BEFORE: It's August 1, and the summer is still heating up - I'm kicking off another jam-packed full month, but there are really only two full months left in the year for me, then a couple of partials. October won't be full since my horror chain isn't large enough to cover a full month, plus I'm planning a vacation for 8 days. Then November and December are going to be nearly empty, provided I stick to my packed summer/fall schedule. That's fine by me, more time to prepare for Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks and also start planning my year-end wrap-up post and my schedule for Movie Year 12.
Dan Stevens carries over from "Marshall", which is a funny coincidence because I'm also watching him in "Legion" season 3 right now. I managed to catch up and watch the most recent episode last night, only to find out that he was barely in it. Jeez, it's not like he's the star of the show or anything like that.
THE PLOT: Norman Oppenheimer is a small time operator who befriends a young politician at a low point in his life. Three years later, when the politician becomes an influential world leader, Norman's life dramatically changes for better and worse.
AFTER: I get the feeling that this film really flew under the radar - sort of like the nuclear submarine metaphor used in the film for a type of business mogul, only less deadly and less successful. Perhaps there was a problem in finding a title that would grab people's attention - "Norman" is about the least exciting title I can imagine, it's even worse than "Marshall". (They could have titled yesterday's film "Thurgood", but that's not as catchy and a bit TOO unique of a name. "Marshall" works better, but even then, it's still pretty blah.) For a while this film was going by the title: "Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer", but I guess that wasn't drawing audiences in either, since it's too long and seems even more boring somehow, plus who the hell knows what a "fixer" is, anyway? During the development stage, this film was called "Oppenheimer Strategies", and that's also a whole lot of nope, that title won't put asses in the seats either, plus they could get a legal threat from the Oppenheimer Funds, which is a real-life investment firm.
I watched the whole film, and I still couldn't tell you exactly what a "fixer" does - it seems like he makes deals with people so that those people can make deals with each other, or something like that. In the early stages of the film he befriends an Israeli politician, the Deputy Minister of Energy or something like that, and he tries to set him up with some high-level investment or energy contacts he has in New York, but he's unable to bring him to a dinner that he wasn't really invited to in the first place. For every occasion, Norman seems to have a relevant contact, or his wife used to babysit for someone when they were small, or it's something of a, "Hey, you really should meet so-and-so, would you like me to arrange that?" which neatly doesn't reveal if he actually knows so-and-so at all.
But during the initial contact, Norman ends up buying an expensive pair of shoes for this deputy minister, and it's possible that this little fact could be important later on. And this minister goes on to become the Prime Minister of Israel, and even though Norman re-connects with him at a public function, the PM's handlers make it their job to keep Norman away from him in the future. Even the Prime Minister's wife points out that the friendship is one of convenience, it works for both parties provided that they both get something out of it, and though the friendship with Norman makes him happy, perspective dictates that the relationship is nothing more than the means to an end, though what that end is may not be very clear.
The kind of deals that Norman arranges are fairly foggy ones, but since he's always asking people what they need or where they'd like to be, the chances are good that if he keeps asking around and making contacts, he might be able to put something together. His rabbi needs to raise $14 million to buy the building that the synagogue is in, and while this seems like a lot of money, it's chump change for a couple of the big investors that Norman happens to know. Norman might see several different ways to raise this money legitimately, and maybe even a few that aren't so solid, so he goes ahead and tells the congregation that an anonymous donor will match the money that they raise, up to $7 million. So, now they only have to raise half the money, which is only half as difficult, but Norman fails to mention that the anonymous donor he found isn't all that real just yet.
Meanwhile Norman sits on a plane next to someone who happens to work for the Israeli justice department, and he can't resist making conversation with her, trying to find out if they know people in common, and asking her if there's anybody he can put her in contact with to help her out. He also details his entire business model for her, and then can't figure out why, a few weeks later, a scandal breaks and the Israeli Prime Minister is being accused of taking bribes from an unnamed American businessman. Norman might be able to see how deals come together, but the audience gets a glimpse at how the whole operation could easily unravel, even if he can't.
During some of the many cell phone conversations seen in this film, there's a sort of a split-screen effect used, it's been around for years, where they divide the screen right down the middle and we get to see both people talking on the phone call at the same time. The only difference here is that there's no sharp line, the two shots are sort of blended together almost seamlessly, organically, and the dividing point could be a corner between two walls, or a mirror, or the back wall of a fountain. It's quite interesting, unfortunately it might be the most interesting thing about the film, unless you're like super into Israeli politics or deals about deals.
Also starring Richard Gere (last seen in "Movie 43"), Lior Ashkenazi, Michael Sheen (last seen in "Kill the Messenger"), Steve Buscemi (last seen in "The Grifters"), Josh Charles (last seen in "Adult Beginners"), Charlotte Gainsbourg (last seen in "The Snowman"), Ann Dowd (last seen in "Captain Fantastic"), Hank Azaria (last seen in "Lovelace"), Harris Yulin (last seen in "The Place Beyond the Pines"), Isaach de Bankole (last seen in "Black Panther'), Yehuda Almagor, Neta Riskin, Doval'e Glickman, Tali Sharon, Miranda Bailey (last seen in "Time Out of Mind"), D.C. Anderson, Scott Shepherd (last seen in "The Family Fang"), Justin Hagan, Michael Kostroff (last seen in "Molly's Game"), Andrew Ross Sorkin
RATING: 5 out of 10 business cards (do people still use those?)
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