Two Cents is a Cinapse original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team curates the series and contribute their “two cents” using a maximum of 200-400 words. Guest contributors and comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future picks. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion. Would you like to be a guest contributor or programmer for an upcoming Two Cents entry? Simply watch along with us and/or send your pitches or 200-400 word reviews to cinapse.twocents@gmail.com.
A Keaton Curation
We here at Two Cents have decided to start the year off by paying tribute to one of the greatest actresses of her generation, Diane Keaton, on her birthday month. Since passing away last October at the age of 79, many have left countless tributes to the indelible mark the actress left behind through a collection of memorable roles and performances. Cinapse recently paid tribute to the recently-departed actress twice in pieces honoring her 21st century work and her directing efforts. However, Two Cents has decided to venture back and revisit classic Diane Keaton through a series of titles that helped to make the Oscar-winning actress a truly one-of-a-kind performer. [Frank Calvillo]
The Pick: Reds (1981)
The Guest
The 1980s and the making of Reds marked a radical career shift for Keaton happening alongside a change in her love life with her dating director/star Warren Beatty during the making of the film and providing Keaton with such a gift of a part. Keaton again acts as a muse for her film director with Beatty as in love with Keaton through his camera as he must’ve been with her in their personal life at the time. Reds is a classic historical epic that with a runtime of over three hours manages to feel swift and succinct in the radical subjects it is covering featuring truly great American movie voices of the end of the 20th century both in front of and behind the camera.
Diane Keaton plays Louise Bryant, one of the American revolutionists central to this epic film documenting the early 20th century conversation about politics internationally and in the states. Keaton managing to stand out as she does in this sprawling narrative is impressive towards her established movie star persona and how she specifically managed to expand ones idea at the time of what she could contain as an actress. Keaton dominates from the minute she arrives on screen, built up by the interviewees discussions about Louise; and while she plays naive in her first couple of scenes, the arc from that to totally independent worker is beautifully portrayed by Keaton.
Her face is so expressive throughout, with each discovered thought so impressively played by Keaton whether that be her political ideas, multiple romantic betrayals from Jack (Warren Beatty), or even just her career accomplishments. I find myself so attracted into Keaton’s pool of charisma. The neurotic comedic star is nowhere to be found in this accomplished leading turn by Keaton, which is a credit to her great range and not nearly discussed enough in relation to Keaton as a movie star.
Keaton’s standout acting moment of fierce independence comes in a great post-intermission scene where Louise, upon returning to the states, must testify in front of the Overman committee with Keaton so fiercely expressing Louise’s growth. Diane physically pushes past her position from behind a table and sitting down to dominate. Her expression manages to combine fed up and knowledgeable, while feeling appropriately contemporary. I become impressed by this small scene in this full-feeling performance.
Keaton’s performance is so authentic in how Louise takes up space; whether with her voice, physical presence or relationship to the many other individuals in this drama. Reds marked a dramatic shift in Keaton’s career showing her range, not necessarily acted upon previously, she would continue to the play in for the nearly half a century post this film.
The Team
One of the last true breaths of new Hollywood also served as one of the incoming decade’s greatest epics. The story of how Beatty got Reds to the screen is deserving of a movie itself. From interviewing witnesses in the early 70s to shooting in multiple countries, letting the camera roll between takes, and editing the film until just before its theatrical release, every behind-the-scenes instance speaks to Beatty’s inspiration, talent, and steadfast belief in the project. By all accounts, Reds should not have worked. It should have been stodgy, boring, bloated, and convoluted. Yet, the real-life John Reed and his revolutionary ideals carry so much fire and electricity (brought on by Beatty’s tour-de-force performance), it’s hard not to get swept up in the the politics, the fight, and, above all, the passion.
As much of a masterpiece as Reds is, and yes, the film qualifies as a masterpiece (sorry, Ed), it simply wouldn’t work without Keaton’s presence bringing such life and vivacity to Louise, a real-life journalist/feminist who gets swept up in Reed’s mission, and in Reed himself. Where most love stories within historical epics like this one this would only have dampened the proceedings, the love story between John and Louise gives the film a groundedness and a humanity that’s truly one of the biggest reasons for it working as well as it does. There’s so much at stake with what John and Louise both undertake in terms of the politics and ideologies they try to push to the forefront. But it’s their romance which provides just as much emotional danger and uncertainty for the two of them.
Sure, the real-life romance between Keaton and Beatty played a part where the chemistry was concerned, but Louise just wouldn’t be as dynamic a woman without this specific actress bringing her to life. Louise’s journey is a captivating one, taking her to places she never thought she’d be, and turning into a person she never thought she was. Keaton gets to display so much of her acting talents here, from apprehension to fear to anger to the kind of love Louise probably never expected to encounter. The actress manages to nail all of the emotions with what was no question one of her greatest multi-facted performances, which not only earned her a second Oscar nomination, but also reinforced the previously-bestowed label as her generation’s Katherine Hepburn. Just look at that train scene (which Beatty famously shot many times) and tell me that the actress isn’t nearly as responsible as Beatty for Reds being the sweeping epic it remains to this day.
Breathtakingly long and ambitious in scope and specificity, Reds ends up being a pretty peculiar epic.
Undoubtedly a two-hander in front of the camera, investing similar amounts of screen time between Warren Beatty’s leftist reporter/political agitator John Reed and Diane Keaton’s passionate writer Louise Bryant (both real life figures of the early 1900s), behind the camera this was Beatty’s baby, where he served as a co-writer, director, star, and likely much more.
Nominated for an astounding 12 Academy Awards, Reds is one of those films I’d seemingly always been aware of, and this Diane Keaton retrospective was my perfect opportunity to experience such a distinguished piece of studio and auteur bravado. The results are a mixed bag. On the one hand, I’m fascinated by the unfiltered and unapologetic exploration of leftist ideology. Our modern discourse has gotten so profoundly dumb that a film like this would be impossible to make today, with its earnest, “warts and all” representation of leftist thought. That said, I certainly was not personally aware of these historical figures, know very little about the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, and found the film to be pretty academic, not holding the viewers’ hand much at all as it delves into labyrinthine political factions and ideologies. I love a challenging film, but Reds threatened to lose my interest with its luxurious runtime and heavily talky/shouty nature.
Aside from the politics of it all, you have Keaton’s Louise desperately seeking agency and an engaged audience for her profound intelligence and insight; constantly fighting against being lost in Reed’s shadow. And Reed, with shockingly little self-awareness, is constantly attempting to spark revolution at the expense of his personal life. For such an epic film in length and scope, the amount of screen time dedicated to these two simply fighting felt tedious to me.
That said, we can’t help but become invested in the authentic attempts these characters make to live out their genuine radical ideology in a rapidly changing world, and when they’re ultimately separated and impacted by war, their quest to reunite and love one another across all that would keep them apart was moving. Beatty’s choice to intercut the film with real life documentary interviews with elderly friends and comrades of the real Reed and Bryant may have offered the most profound stroke of genius in the whole Oscar-winning affair.
I can’t imagine I’ll revisit this peculiar epic, but I’m grateful to have experienced it and respect the chutzpah of Beatty in getting it made.
January Lineup: A Keaton Curation
