Movie ReviewFilm Festival

Film Review: GEORGETOWN: An Adventure Between Fact and Fiction [Tribeca 2019]

Christoph Waltz Vanessa Redgrave Georgetown

Georgetown Review

Georgetown (2019) Film Review from the 18th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, a movie directed by Christoph Waltz, starring Christoph Waltz, Annette Bening, Vanessa Redgrave, Corey Hawkins, Caroline Palmer, Noam Jenkins, Sergio Di Zio, Paulino Nunes, David Reale, Lou Jurgens, Saad Siddiqui, Ron Lea, Laura de Carteret, Victoria Snow, and Marie Dame.

Georgetown lets you know what kind of movie it’s going to be from the very beginning, when a text panel warns viewers that any similarities between this film and real-life people is totally unintentional. In reality this is not the case; the film is in fact inspired by a story reported by the New York Times in 2012 (spoiler alert if you choose to read!), which the film admits after its conclusion. This cheeky, visible in plain sight, and arguably untruthful statement sets the tone for the story to follow.

The movie’s tone effectively balances playful levity with incomprehensible psychopathology. Though it revolves around exposing the perpetrator in a murder case, it focuses on much more than what happened during that fateful event. Georgetown uses an intriguing narrative structure, dividing the film into thematic sections rather than telling the entire story chronologically. The resulting jumps backward and forward in time add to the suspense and allow for the viewer to pick up subtle clues from each differently-angled retelling of the story. The thematic sections are even facetiously titled, making the story feel more like a game of Clue than a thrilling tale that leads to murder.

Advertisement
 

And yet, a quiet mixture of frightening and confusing assumptions bubbles underneath the entire film’s surface. None of the story’s sections would exist without some preposterous incidents caused by the mental unwellness- or is it the genius?- of one of the film’s main characters. Indeed, the film’s title invokes the notion of politics and, with it, the ability that politicians have to operate on sometimes drastically differing public and private domains. Like a politician, this film presents a bright and funny, pleasing exterior while covering up the uncertainty and the insanity that lies beneath. Rather than a whodunit, this film is more of a “how could they possibly have done it?”, a question that resonates beyond the particulars of just this story.

In this political moment, where there seem to be multiple truths about singular sets of events, it can feel impossible to understand why “the other side” might think what they do. Georgetown taps into that anguish, using it as the engine to its story; every character in the movie has their own truth from which they refuse to budge, no matter the costs. The viewer is left to feel like the only impartial spectator and seeker of the real truth, while each of the film’s characters stands staunchly in their own beliefs throughout the entire film. The intrigue of this movie, for me, was in trying to figure out how certain characters could have possibly made sense of their worlds, given their distorted perspectives, which they genuinely seemed to believe. Though, by the end of the movie, the plot’s main mystery has been solved, Georgetown left me pondering this important and difficult question long after the closing credits.

Georgetown is amusing and mysterious, direct and complicated at the same time. Christoph Waltz and Vanessa Redgrave give engaging and nuanced performances, and the story offers a simply fascinating blend of truth- if that really exists- and fiction.

Rating: 9/10

Leave your thoughts on this Georgetown review and this film below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more film reviews can visit our Movie Review Page and our Movie Review Facebook Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

FilmBook's Newsletter

Subscribe to FilmBook’s Daily Newsletter for the latest news!

Thank you for subscribing.

Something went wrong.

Leah Singerman

Leah writes about life lessons found in unconventional places. She especially likes to draw random connections, think about the things that we all share as humans, and find the important life lessons in seemingly fluffy romantic comedies. Leah’s other interests include Harry Potter, music, and the great outdoors.
Back to top button
Share via
Send this to a friend