The Ides of March – Tage des Verrats (2011)

The Ides of March – Tage des Verrats: Directed by George Clooney. With Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti. An idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail.

“Audiences leaving George Clooneyu0026#39;s latest Ides Of March will feel like theyu0026#39;ve just finished a watching a really good play.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat makes sense of this is the fact Ides Of March was adapted from a play. In a play telling an audience everything they need to know always helps, especially when the majority of it are only going to see it once. However the difference in film is the aesthetic liberties it allows itsu0026#39; director and I donu0026#39;t think in this Clooney took enough advantage of that.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere is a part to this movie where a business exchange takes place inside of an escalade parked outside of a barbershop. The words being exchanged within that escalade are left to the audienceu0026#39;s imagination because the camera never goes inside, but stands staring at it from across the street. Ides of March couldu0026#39;ve used a lot more scenes like this, but Clooney played it safe with a conventionally linear story line. And I think Clooney put so much more into the story line than he needed to for the audienceu0026#39;s sake.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis film didnu0026#39;t leave enough to the imagination of itsu0026#39; audience. While the actors carried out every single demand of this script, the film itself doesnu0026#39;t leave itsu0026#39; audience with enough to make them want to watch it again. The amount of telling done over this show leaves little to no replay value. It feels like the majority of the aesthetic was put into the script when I think a minimum wouldu0026#39;ve been more than enough. Ides of Marchu0026#39;s script told me a lot more than I needed to know. It feels like the script told me so much that I forgot some key elements to the story. Then again the liberties he took with the script is exactly what allowed Ryan Gosling to take his character to some extremes.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn terms of acting, with names like Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Paul Giamatti, Clooney delivers an all-star studded Sega Dream-Cast. And in terms of his direction, Clooney really leaves Ides Of March to his roots in the stage. However with that said Iu0026#39;m afraid it all felt a little too staged for the silver screen.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFor the sake of cinema I think Clooney couldu0026#39;ve taken a little more of an aesthetic liberty with this project.”