Movie Review: Breach

Breach (2007) 

Directed by Billy Ray

Written by Adam Mazer 

Starring Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney, Dennis Haysbert, Caroline Dhavernas, Gary Cole

Release Date February 16th, 2007 

Published February 17th, 2007

Robert Hanssen was America's leading expert in Russian counter-intelligence. When communism fell it was because of guys like Hanssen whose fluency in how the Russians conducted intelligence and counterintelligence helped topple Moscow. So how does a man so proud and outwardly patriotic become the greatest traitor since Benedict Arnold? That is one of two stories that unfold in the new movie Breach from director Billy Ray the young auteur behind Shattered Glass.

When agent Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe) was assigned to be the assistant to veteran agent Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper) he was told that this could be his opportunity to earn his way into becoming a full fledged agent. It was not because Hanssen was a 30 plus year veteran whose experience would be a great learning experience for O'Neill. Rather, this was a test of the young agents spy mettle.

Eric was chosen to watch over Hanssen whom he is told is a sexual deviant and thus susceptible to blackmail by foreign agents. Choosing a more veteran agent to watch Hanssen would arouse suspicion, so it's up to the. Little did Eric know, there was far more to this new detail than just sexual deviancy. He has actually been dropped right into the middle of the biggest internal FBI scandal in history.

Breach directed by Bill Ray, the man behind the Stephen Glass expose Shattered Glass, is a brisk exciting drama that tells the story of Robert Hanssen with an icy, quicksilver pacing that never rushes but never pauses too long either. The spycraft is formal and by the book, made exciting by the hard work of the actors and the terrific staging.

Chris Cooper shows once again why he is the preeminent character actor in the business. His Robert Hanssen is a constipated family man who is constantly fed up with just about everything. Everyone around him is regarded as a fool and he does not suffer fools kindly. The explanation for his treachery may just be an overall frustration with the people around him. He wants the system to conform to his idea of efficiency and when it doesn't he decides to goose the system by subverting it.

Ryan Phillippe continues to choose smart roles. His career track started as that of a teen idol after 1999's Cruel Intentions. Thankfully, brooding, handsome type was not the career he wanted and while his choices, from the cool underappreciated Way of the Gun to Antitrust to Crash, have been spotty, he has been good even in his most off-kilter role.

In Breach Phillippe plays a naive worker bee very well and his character grows up quickly. Initially all confusion and ambition his Eric O'Neill toughens up quickly and is able to use his naivete as a perfect wedge against the always suspicious Hanssen.

Breach is a breathtaking, fast paced story, exceptionally well told by director Billy Ray. There is not an ounce of fat on this story, every detail, from Hanssen's religious convictions to O'Neill's relationship with his wife played by the wonderful Catherine Davernas, it all pays off in a way. The crisp, efficient storytelling is aided by exceptional performances by Phillippe and Cooper and an extraordinary group of supporting players.

Laura Linney, Gary Cole and Dennis Haysbert bring expert skill to the roles of Hanssen's investigators. Linney is especially good as the strong willed lead investigator Kate Burroughs who made the tough call to put the kid O'Neill in with the veteran Hanssen. Icy and workmanlike, Burroughs hard nosed investigation was going on for two years before she brought in O'Neill as a last ditch effort to catch Hanssen in the act.

The person in charge of capturing the suspected mole before Hanssen was identified? Hanssen himself, something Burroughs is very aware of.

Taut, invigorating storytelling, Breach is the kind of thriller that excites with dazzling intellectual storytelling. Director Billy Ray may not be much of a visual stylist but he more than makes up for it with his ear for smart dialogue and his instinct for telling his story in a compact, quick witted way. The pace of the storytelling never outdoing the development of the characters, Breach unfolds the greatest failure in American intelligence history in the most entertaining way imaginable.

Movie Review: Far From Heaven

Far From Heaven (2002)

Directed by Todd Haynes 

Written by Todd Haynes

Starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson, Viola Davis, George Clooney

Release Date November 8th, 2002

Published December 24th, 2002

The 1950s is bathed in that Donna Reed/Leave It To Beaver sheen that seems, to irony, impenetrable. The earnestness and honesty of the times is anathema to our current state of affairs. Not that I would prefer the constricted fifties to our open society, rather, I'm merely illustrating the differences that are in conflict in Todd Haynes 50s era drama Far From Heaven, which attempts to openly comment on modern social issues while maintaining the earnestness of its time period. It is a balancing act that ends up in mixed results at best.

Inspired by the works of fifties era hauteur Douglas Sirk, Far From Heaven is a domestic drama that casts Julianne Moore as mother and housewife Catherine Whitaker. Living in the perfect suburb with her perfect children, home and lifestyle, Catherine is the Donna Reed-like ideal 50s woman. Perfect to the point that she and her husband are cast as the perfect couple in an advertisement for her husband's TV manufacturing company. So perfect that a local reporter profiles her as the womanly ideal.

However, cracks are beginning to show. Catherine's husband Frank continually arrives home later and later from work. Then, as Catherine waits for Frank to arrive home to escort her to a party, she is called to the police station to bail him out. She never questions why Frank was in jail; he claims the officer mistook him for the real criminal. The cracks become a huge gaping hole when Catherine decides to deliver dinner to a late working Frank and finds him in flagrante delicto with another man.

Rather than risk her perfect life, Catherine is very forgiving of Frank, escorting him to a psychiatrist where he hopes to be cured of his "affliction." So how does Catherine deal with her emotions? Rather than confide in her closest friend, played by Patricia Clarkson, she takes solace in the kind ear of her new gardener a black man named Raymond Deagen. The attraction isn't overtly sexual; at first, it is friendly and supportive and, slowly, an undercurrent of passion develops that both are fearful of exploring. Especially after a neighbor begins gossiping about the relationship.

Writer-director Todd Haynes is extremely faithful to his period and anyone who has flipped past Turner Classic Movies will recognize from the title sequence, the score by Elmer Bernstein, all the way to the closing credits, the look of the 50s dramas that were actually made in the 1950s. It is really remarkable but also troublesome. Haynes is so successful in his homage that it almost becomes comical, a parody.

The film deals with serious issues in the same ways that the movies that influenced it did, but far more overtly. Films of the 50s couldn't portray overtly homosexual characters or interracial romances, so commentaries on those topics were done through complicated metaphors that are still being discovered today. It is here that Haynes' freedom to portray these issues openly betrays him. Far From Heaven doesn't have the benefit of the mystery of metaphor that was invoked by the films that influenced it.

Julianne Moore gives a fine performance but, at times, only her natural warmth and audience credibility save the character from drifting into Stepford Wife-like parody. Dennis Quaid, as her closeted husband, has an easier time with his role, which has a natural conflict that allows him to be human from beginning to end (whereas Moore's character is at first required to be a Donna Reed clone and then gradually becomes a realistic character.) Haysbert has the difficult task of being saintly from beginning to end, at times taking on an almost beatific air. How a character in his situation could so naively wander from scene to scene without conflict is rather unbelievable.

Todd Haynes shows maturity and savvy that are quite remarkable; he has a very bright future ahead of him. Haynes will do especially well if he maintains his team of art director Peter Rogness, cinematographer Edward Lachman and production designer Mark Friedberg, who bathe every scene in the film in beautiful colors. The look of the film is remarkable for its clarity and will look truly amazing on DVD.

Far From Heaven is a good movie, but it is also a movie that cannot transcend its scenery. The 50s setting is a blessing and a curse. A blessing for the palate it provides for the production design, a curse for the faithfulness and attention to detail it seems to require, that cause the film to seem like almost a parody of itself.