Film Review: COLD COPY: Fine Performances Punctuate a Satisfying Story Behind Tabloid TV Journalism [Tribeca 2023]

Cold Copy Review

Cold Copy (2023) Film Review from the 22nd Annual Tribeca Film Festival, a movie directed by Roxine Hellberg, written by Roxine Hellberg, and starring Bel Powley, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jacob Tremblay, Nesta Cooper, Ekaterina Baker, James Tupper, Yoshié Bancroft, Adam Beauchesne, Joshua Harding, Requell Jodeah, Gavin Langelo, Helena Marie, Alison Ward, and Lynn Whyte.

An aspiring graduate student is pulled into the political maneuvering behind the scenes of a successful sensationalistic TV show in Cold Copy.

We have to admire the cleverness in titling this film, written by director Roxine Hellberg. Cold Copy describes perfectly this Grendel of the airwaves, a tabloid television show with ratings through the roof — a title that could have in fact been used for the show itself.

The plot in Cold Copy is a familiar one, i.e., journalistic integrity at odds with the pandering appeal of sensationalism. Probably the best known recent example (post Studio System) is Network, with a little Working Girl thrown in, but still sports plenty of twists and turns to make this a truly distinctive work.

Grad student Mia Scott (Bel Powley) finds herself struggling in a journalism course helmed by Diane Heger (Tracee Ellis Ross), TV star host of a top rated news show. Sitting right next to Mia is her best friend and roommate, played by Nesta Cooper. Despite Heger’s declaration that students are ineligible for internship, this friend gets one in pretty short order.

In retrospect Ms. Heger gets the full credit she deserves as a predatory celebrity. It eventually occurs to us that maybe she began politicking right from day one in the classroom. She consistently humiliates on Mia while simultaneously praising her best friend, and so fanning the embers of Mia’s underlying ambition (which presumably Heger has long since come to recognize in relatively insecure hopefuls) into full flame.

An effective strategy, too; Heger pretty soon reneges on her word that students are ineligible for internship on her show, but dangles the carrot until Mia bucks up, just as Heger thought she would. Mia produces a story evidently worthy of the coveted internship, which turns out to be a some muckraking over the dark secret behind a family tragedy. This involves befriending Igor, one of those 16-going-on-35 kids, artistically talented, routinely bullied, all but ignored by his successful cynic of a father, and bursting with suppressed fury at the suicide of his mother, a popular children’s author.

Meanwhile — and probably more importantly — as a gutsy, prospective TV tiger-lady, Mia sabotages her best friend by betraying a sensitive political snippet told to her in confidence that boots her friend from the internship and paves the way for herself. This duplicity apparently confirms Heger’s we-all-have-our-price worldview, and suggests that Mia has no business complaining. And she doesn’t, though she does mope around for a bit, until a tipping point, and for Mia, a bridge too far, and where professional pride crushes ethical ambiguity with a vengeance: Heger broadcast Mia’s story, to the letter, as her own, without a single mention of credit for Mia, who gives full force of loud, accusatory umbrage.

But by this time Mia had learned the cutthroat canon all too well, and had an ace up her sleeve in plenty of time to demonstrate that the law of karma was alive and kicking. (It would be a shame to spoil this reveal, but here’s a hint: Meredith’s comeuppance in Disclosure is in the ballpark.)

The final scene is an especially interesting one. Diane Heger finds herself cornered by a bevy of reporters against a harsher sort of limelight than she’s used to, and she spots her once protege observing calmly from across the street. Heger counters the gaze with a cool, knowing, almost approving semi-grin, without concern, rancor — or surprise: did she uncork a genie she couldn’t control? This is one of many masterful moments like these in Ms. Ross’ performance.

In fact, with all due credit to a very fine cast, most of the real fire lay in the interactions between her and Bel Powley, and by extension, Ms. Powley and Jacob Tremblay, and lend considerable depth to otherwise familiar characters. All in all, Cold Copy is both satisfying and gratifying.

Rating: 8/10

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