The Assassination of Richard Nixon

By Matt Parks

Baltimore, 1974: A hapless, alienated, socially inept man who has failed at a series of jobs and ruined his marriage, Sam Bicke is convinced the system is corrupt. After the latest in a long series quotidian humiliations—what one gathers is the lastest in a series of failed attempts to reconcile with his wife, yet another professional failure—Bicke learns that his small business loan is rejected, a final injustice that pushes him over the edge, tormented into an implacable rage by the televised face of the corrupt system. The face of Richard Nixon. Bicke becomes determined to make a final stand against injustice and corruption by attacking it at its source—Nixon himself.

Penn is really amazing in this movie—every bit as good as he was in his Mystic River and 21 Grams—and he deserves another Best Actor nom for the role, a very challenging, psychologically-orientated part that requires Penn to be on screen for virtually the entire running time of the film. Niels Mueller, and first time director who also co-scripted, has also done an excellent job with this film. Together with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, Mueller lights the film, and Penn’s character in particular, with unconventional lighting techniques. Rather than light him from the front, Penn is light from the side and back, which leaves him perpetually half in shadow, an effect that very nicely forms a visual analog for the character’s darkening psychological state.

The film’s denouement goes a little over the top after the long, slow boil that leads up to it, but, as a whole, this is an outstanding film with another Oscar-caliber performance by Sean Penn.