the manchurian candidate denzel washington

More specifically, I mean the cast that is so enormous that we can never get well-acquainted with more than a handful of characters. Where Demme's film stumbles is, as previously noted, its oversized ambition. Meanwhile, Meryl Streep's interpretation of propaganda mastermind Eleanor Shaw can't possibly live up to the diabolical chill of Angela Lansbury's Oscar-nominated (and worthy) performance, but the blatant Hillary styling is a hoot. There is still an intriguing dynamic between Major Bennett Marco (Denzel Washington) and Vice Presidential candidate Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber), who are haunted by dreams stained with the residue of US government-sanctioned brainwashing while serving in Kuwait, and that medically-induced indoctrination is perhaps even more impactful since technological advances (evil doctor Simon McBurney implants chips into the soldiers' brains and tracking devices in their shoulders) make the men's subjugation even sadder and scarier. His signature adoration of extreme close-ups is indeed a major asset in crafting the disorienting mood of his remake, which overall is an overambitious narrative that announces itself in the opening credits sequence as not just an adaptation of the original Richard Condon novel but also of George Axelrod's screenplay for the Frankenheimer production.īy setting the film in 2004 and dealing with Gulf War veterans, Demme's take changes several key details from its predecessor - to be fair, without having read Condon's book, it's not yet clear to me how closely either adaptation hews to the source material - but some of the '62 film's most memorable aspects remain intact. I can't imagine there are many directors who would dare attempt to put their own spin on John Frankenheimer's classic political thriller The Manchurian Candidate (1962), but surely Jonathan Demme would be on any cinephile's shortlist. FEBRUARY 2021 STAR OF THE MONTH: DENZEL WASHINGTON (#8)

The manchurian candidate denzel washington