Directed by David Gordon Green. Candy goes on to tell Jane, If you fight with monsters too long, you become a monster. Jane later says that shell kill herself if she loses to Candy again (though this appears to be hyperbole) She has lost every election against him. On April 22, 2007, it was announced that George Clooney would produce a dramatization of the 2005 documentary Our Brand Is Crisis, along with Grant Heslov, and Warner Bros. would handle American distribution rights. I can barely imagine the humiliation! They plead with him that any negotiations with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) be preceded by a referendum so the people can decide. Then Jane figures out a hook: To make Castillo more attractive than the frontrunner (a young, engaged populist who represents hope and change), she has to sell the idea that the country doesnt need someone, well, likable. An SUV carrying the Castillo advisors sees him and stop to give him a ride home, insisted upon by Jane. In a Netflix comedy by Katharine McPhees stepdaughter. Loosely based on true events, Our Brand Is Crisis, follows Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) and her campaign team when they are hired to help Pedro Castillo win a presidential election in Bolivia. A young man working on the campaign, Eduardo (Reynaldo Pacheco) comes to the rescue of Castillo and ushers him away. Its pretty powerful, actually. ------------------------------------------. Our sophisticated political flimflam could make more inroads than the Marshall Plan. Jane suggests that Castillo reveal everything that could be used against him, but he refuses. [23], Eric Kohn from Indiewire wrote that the movie is all about Bullock's performance, saying "she imbues her part with a ferocious energy that constantly elevates the straightforward material". The boys (all adult age) are living alone because their parents have both died. Jane is talking with Nell, and insults her about her dedication to the campaign. During a focus group for the ad in which he catches and holds up several people, its clear the ad does not resonate with anybody. Bush strategist Lee Atwater, who by his own reported deathbed admission was an unholy monster, and to this day keeps afloat the brand of George W. Bush strategist Karl Rove. PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here. Walking into the room with the campaign team, she gives a fiery and inspirational speech about how important it is to go negative, and that anybody with a problem with that will be given a set of balls. All rights reserved. Right before the debate with the 3 leading candidates, Jane is sitting alone in the lecture hall, reading Faust by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, and is soon joined by Candy. Copyright 2023 Salon.com, LLC. We get on Janes adrenaline kick when she wins, but the movie rarely questions the deeper ramifications of her actions. document.write(ts+'script src="http://www.burstnet.com/cgi-bin/ads/ad12539a.cgi/v=2.3S/sz=728x90A|970x66A/'+rnum+'/'+nf+'RETURN-CODE/JS/">'+ts+'/script>'); You can send in your spoiler to other movies by going here. So I knew that, in this case, I would just have to find out for myself. An young actress expresses concern with her part in the ad, which requires her to be caught by Castillo. Calamity Jane Bodine (Bullock) was a vaunted political strategist, but the emotional toll of the campaigns coupled with substance abuse problems forced her into early retirement where she may not be happy, but shes grateful that shes calm. By the way, the bus driver is paid to drive like a complete moron to do it. [17][18] Filming also took place in the Bonnet Carr Spillway in Norco in St. Charles Parish. A knock on the door reveals Eddie, saddened and angry, who tells her about the IMF plan. The pacing is. The protagonist, Jane Bodine a.k.a. The big reason it works, though, is that it takes its premise from Rachel Boyntons phenomenal (but little-known) 2005 documentary of the same name. : What The Hell Happened? Does he drink too much? He does exactly that, to Janes delight, when explaining hes not close to his son, but he wishes he was, with tears in his eyes. The deception disgusts her. [9] On October 10, Joaquim de Almeida and Zoe Kazan joined the cast, with Almeida playing Castillo, the former president of Bolivia, and Kazan playing a young woman who finds dirt on political candidates. The insistent, intrusive music score by David Wingo doesnt help matters, and neither do the too-many subsequent montages, all of which are of the always mistaken We Need A Montage variety. He resides in Atlanta with his wife and their dog Jack. Bodine had fled the consulting scene for years after an eruption of conscience that pushed her to mental breakdown, sobriety, and pottery. Before a campaign stop, Jane tells Eddie to help Castillo roll up his sleeves. January 14, 2016. At another meeting with advisors, its revealed the crisis message is working, but not so well that it will win the election. He cant reconcile that her success also makes her a bad person. Politics is a dirty business, but Our Brand Is Crisis doesn't stick its hands into the muck sufficiently to be as entertaining or stinging as it could be. Calamity Jane (Sandra Bullock), has been lured out of retirement by gobs of money and a challenge: Can she convince the Bolivian people to elect as president an unpopular, arrogant, cigar-chomping oligarch named Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida)who was already president once and bungled the job? Even worse, it turns out to be a humanist, socialist, anti-capitalist message about "the people" rising up to establish some sort of vague communist brotherhood centered . "Our Brand Is Crisis" is both the title of and a line from a new political comedy about American consultants who take over a Bolivian presidential campaign. Back at Janes hotel, Ben calls and informs her there will be a protest downtown. Honestly, I didnt know what to expect, on a number of levels. Before I address the message, Ill review the content. Comedy-Drama. Bodine used to be the best in the game, but an unfortunate series of events during a campaign destroyed her reputation and confidence. There are 12 misuses of god, Jesus (1), Jesus Christ (1), hell (3) and d*mn (3). When it does, Jane moons the Rivera bus. Around the edges of this story about Bullocks character, an especially ruthless consultant known as Calamity Jane, there are a few intriguing hints of other stories about the international financial system, the power of fear in politics and the American understanding of what democracy means when applied to other people in other countries. A one-stop-shop for all things video games. That kind of consumer response is pretty remarkable, and it also says something about each brand's crisis management strategies. Candy calls Jane and invites her to go out again. The more you understand politics, the more it obliterates idealism and eventually all you see is a rigged game masquerading as a grand-scale optimism. He tells a story about a campaign run by Adlai Stevenson in which Stevenson is told everything thinking person would vote for him, to which Stevenson replies that is not enough. A lethally effective charm delivery system, Sandra Bullock doesn't need to do much to win you over. Their main tactic is to emphasize the many problems of the economy and present . The Unloved, Part 111: Devil in a Blue Dress, Female Filmmakers in Focus: Cauleen Smith on Drylongso, True Lies Fails to Capture the Charm of the James Cameron Original, Berlinale 2023 Highlights, Part Two: Reality, Manodrome, The Adults, Inside, Golda. What are you going to do? and then leaves. Jane also has to get Castillo to be totally transparent to her to uncover those skeletons that she might need to deal with, being transparent which he may not be willing to be, not realizing that her own skeletons might pop out to play. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. Bodine and her crew join Candy on the way to the airport. [3], The film opened on October 30, 2015, alongside Burnt and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. Although she was once a wunderkind of the political strategy community, she lost her last four campaigns, the speculation that being the reason she dropped out of sight. Principal photography began on September 29, 2014, in New Orleans, Louisiana. [10] On October 13, 2014, Participant Media announced that they would co-finance the film with Warner, while Jeffrey Skoll and Jonathan King would executive produce, along with Bullock and Stuart M. Since The War Room, the omnipotent, omniscient celebrity political consultant has been portrayed again and again. She doesnt respond. When youre in the movie reviewing ministry, a variety of messages and agendas come and go. By Manohla Dargis. Our Brand is Crisis hits a lot of clunky notes and the end is unforgivably cornball, but it's still one of the liveliest political black comedies I've seen in a while. But it never keeps the energy up, steering into forced visual gags, dull spells of earnestness, and ponderous backstory psychologythe viewer never is quite sure who really did what to whom in the Candy-Bodine love-hate relationship. But the main mystery to me was the message of this film. Answer, Does HIGH MORAL CHARACTER matter in political leaders? Our Brand Is Crisis also has deeper themes that punctuate the human cost of winning and what it takes to do just that. This film isnt as dark as Burnt, and has more amusing moments, including some comic relief, but still shouldnt be classified as a comedy. But the fact that it wants to also squeeze in a redemptive tale is completely at odds with the work the protagonist is doing. Joaquim de Almeida - Castillo. She opens with footage of an anti-government riot that came less than a year after the election. If youve been following the drama in the House, the inability of most every Republican presidential candidate to lift off, or really any news from American politics over the last 10 or 239 years, you might have noticed that politics is difficult. At the start, Jane has been out of the consulting game for several years, following a traumatic mayoral race. The news that Jane will be pitted against political consultant Pat Candy, with whom she has a past, is enough to get her away from the wheel. She may get some help in getting into the mindset of that indigenous poor through a campaign volunteer named Eddie, a Castillo loyalist since he was a young boy much to the chagrin of his friends. Jane says the llama cant stand the commercial so badly, he killed himself. All rights reserved. During the debate, Nell observes how charming Rivera is, while the team watches stage left. [11], Principal photography on the film began on September 29, 2014 in New Orleans, Louisiana, using 35mm film. You want to know how the Janes of the world happen. Instead, both end up outside of their hotel rooms so they can see each other. Is it money? The villagers are angrily blocking the bus, and Castillo, against the wishes of Jane, gets off to talk with them. Ben says, ok. This satire, directed by David Gordon Green from a screenplay by Peter Straughan, suffers from deficits of wit, wisdom, focus, filmmaking expertise and appropriate tone. She reveals she has had mental issues before and suffered from depression. Los Angeles County said all litigation over the crash has now been resolved. However it is better and more gratifying to win the heart of a nation and keep it. Candy gives her a condescending compliment and tells her he plans to pleasure himself thinking about her when he returns home. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. Jane is on the set but is only seen in the background on a lounge chair, still looking unwell. The go-to source for comic book and superhero movie fans. She tells him shes going home tomorrow. He suggests maybe later they can go out. "Our Brand Is Crisis" is a fictionalized treatment of the 2005 documentary of the same name, which focused on Bill Clinton's former campaign manager James Carville. They make big promises that mean jack shit. Getting hurt is unavoidable, she tells him. The film, directed by David Gordon Green and based on the 2005 documentary of the same name, follows Bullock's character Jane Bodine, a political mastermind brought in to help a Bolivian. Loosely based on the 2005 documentary of the same name, Our Brand is Crisis offers a fictionalized take on the 2002 Bolivian Presidential election with a cast that includes Academy Award. Its also revealed that Candy is the one who ran over the llama during the commercial shoot. ts=String.fromCharCode(60); She really truly does.). February 27, 2023. 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