September 5 a gripping piece of history
When ABC dispatched Roone Arledge and his Wide World of Sports team to cover the 1972 Olympics in Munich, they knew the event would be covered in the most comprehensive and engaging way possible. Having cut their teeth for over a decade presenting myriad sporting events from around the globe, the veteran crew’s work had come to be recognized as the gold standard in the industry. Little did they know their skill set would have to be employed to report on a series of rapidly unfolding events that would result in the most tragic day in Olympic history.
Tim Fehlbaum’s September 5 is a gripping account of the horrific hostage situation that arose when a group of Palestinian terrorists infiltrated the Olympic village and took members of the Israeli team hostage. However, these events are seen through a different perspective, that of the ABC Sports control room where the reporters first hear of the attack and watch it unfold on the various television monitors before them. Though the majority of the film takes place in this one location, it is far from a static exercise, Fehlbaum keeping the pacing at a fever pitch, his cast bringing the proper urgency to their roles.
Geoffrey Mason (an excellent John Magaro), whose specialty up to this point was covering minor league baseball, finds himself in the hot seat. Having come in early to help set up for the day’s coverage of the games, he and his skeleton crew hear gunshots coming from the direction of the Olympic Village. Dispatching a small group, including German translator Marianne (Leonie Benesch), they soon find that two Israeli athletes have been killed and a dozen others taken hostage by a group known as Black September.
When ABC News moves to take over the story, Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) insists that his sports team is up to reporting the events. Knowing the logistics of the city, where their cameras are located and proximity to the action, the New York-based news division has little choice but to agree.
As the 17-hour ordeal develops, questions of journalistic integrity arise. Could their reporting endanger the hostages? Televising an unpredictable live event such as this, should they be wary of showing people being murdered? Considerations regarding the hostages’ families, issues of censorship and morality as well as political concerns all come to the fore, Arledge and his head of operations Marvin (Ben Chaplin) pushing ahead through uncharted waters. While the producer projects confidence in his decisions, his doubts lurk just beneath the surface.
Fehlbaum does a fabulous job setting up the parameters of the film and its environment. An archival promotional film, made to explain and promote the extensive nature of ABC’s coverage, is used to show the vast number of cameras set up throughout the games and city, as well as an explanation as to how they are employed. This quickly establishes the tools the team had at its disposal, while the director’s use of hand-held cameras and a grainy visual aesthetic suggest a documentary-like approach that adds to the realistic verisimilitude.
This behind-the-scenes glimpse also reveals the machinations of covering a story such as this as well as the danger the reporters face in doing so. Footage from within the Olympic Village during the siege is obtained by a reporter who smuggles a small camera in and out. Meanwhile, Peter Jennings (Benjamin Walker) and his crew sneak into a building across from the action, breaking the law to get a closer look at the events. And while these actions yield results, mistakes are made as well, some reported instances later turning out to be false.
September 5 is not simply an account of a key event in media history, but it shows the genesis of how news coverage is conducted today. Invasive and impersonal, the foundation of modern reporting accentuates immediacy and sensationalism, ethics pushed to the side for the sake of ratings and headlines themselves. While Arledge and his team covered the events of the 1972 Olympics with integrity, over time their rivals, in their effort to replicate the power and urgency they captured, allowed their journalistic standards to erode. Unwittingly, their excellent work, which earned Arledge’s team 29 Emmys, created a slippery slope that’s resulted in infotainment age we live in. Streaming on Amazon Prime and Available through Video-On-Demand.
Companion a well-oiled, satiric machine
Wicked clever and flat out fun, Drew Hancock’s Companion is not just another science-run-amok thriller. Razor sharp, it puts misogynistic behavior in its crosshairs, while launching broadsides at consumerism, techno-dependence, entitlement and self-isolationism. From that description, it may seem as if there’s a great deal of heavy lifting in store. However, it all goes down easy thanks to Hancock’s delicious darkly humor approach as well as his surprises-aplenty script, its whiplash turns all occurring logically within the movie’s insular environment.
Iris and Josh (Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid) are in the salad days of their burgeoning relationship. Enamored with one another, they seemingly haven’t a care in the world, as they set off for a weekend getaway. They’ve been invited by their friend, Kat (Megan Suri), to a remote hideaway owned by her Russian boyfriend Sergey (Rupert Friend). Their friends Eli and Patrick (Harvey Guillen and Lukas Gage) will also be in attendance, they also very much in love.
Of course, not everything is at it seems. There is obvious tension between Kat and Iris, as she doesn’t approve of Jack’s new partner, while Sergey is less than subtle in his attraction towards his visitor. Things go spectacularly sideways when he makes a move on Iris at a nearby beach, resulting in his being stabbed to death and her returning to the home, blood drenched, to deliver the news to the others.
That Sergey winds up dead is no surprise; the fact that Iris is a robot, is.
All of this occurs within the first 15 minutes and is just one of many startling moments Hancock has in store. Once this reveal takes place, we’re treated to a flashback in which we see Josh in his bland apartment, first getting Iris and programming her to cater to his every wish. Emotionally stunted, he adjusts Iris’ settings so that her intelligence is below his, her aggression level is subdued and her sexual drive is heightened.
Once Jack loses control of Iris – she’s one smart ‘bot, despite her tamped-down settings – Hancock takes us on a ride in which one surprise trips on the heels of the next, its social commentary dripping with dark humor and disdain. Jack and his ilk are revealed to be the true villains, issuing one complaint after another about how his life isn’t the way he imagined it would be. That this delusion of entitlement is widespread comes to the fore when two employees from the robot company recount the grisly manner in which some of their products are abused.
Much like its titular character, Companion is a well-oiled machine, its delivery of its timely message slick, quick and smart. There’s not an ounce of fat on this film, Hancock reminding us of the power of efficiency in this age of bloated movies. As a result, its meaning has more impact and delivered a feeling that’s become all too rare with the Hollywood product of late – it left me wanting more. In theaters.
Invited a time-filler
Nicholas Stoller’s You‘re Cordially Invited is perfectly suited for background viewing, the kind where you look up at it occasionally while scrolling through social media on your phone. Is it a bad movie? No, not really. Is it a good movie? I wouldn’t say that. As the kids these days would say, “It’s mid.” That being said, I wouldn’t call it a “timewaster” but rather a “time-filler.” It’s a small distinction but it needs to be made.
Will Ferrell is in dad-mode as Jim, a single father whose whole life revolves around his daughter, Jenni (Geraldine Viswanathan). Only 7-years- old when her mother died, she and her father have a special relationship, their bond unshakeable. That is, until she comes home from college, engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Oliver (Stony Blyden). This knocks Jim back on his heels, wondering how he’ll fill the void her leaving will create. However, he recovers and decides to give Jenni the wedding of her dreams at the posh Palmetto Inn, where he and her mother were married.
Meanwhile, type-A personality, Margot (Reese Witherspoon) has launched a similar plan. Her younger sister, Neve (Meredith Hagner), has decided to take the plunge, and she’s decided to take charge. As a producer of reality television, this role comes naturally to her and she decides to throw the wedding to end all weddings at, of all places, the Palmetto Inn.
Wouldn’t you know it, an untimely death and a clerical error leads to both parties booking on the same weekend. Complications ensue when Jim and Margot both show up, their parties in tow, at the same time.
As premises go, this isn’t bad. Classic screwball comedies have been built on less and the commitment of the two leads keeps us engaged. Before it digresses to the point when Jim is wrestling an alligator in Margot’s room, there are some rather clever moments. Margot’s passive aggressive, judgmental family proves to be fertile ground for funny quips and awkward moments. One particularly inspired bit revolves around one of them having their home featured in the magazine Gardens and Guns, while the womanizing pastor they’ve hired proves amusing as well. Not to be outdone, the other family provides its share of cringe-worthy moments, chief among them a duet between Jim and Jenni of “Islands in the Stream,” the father and daughter blissfully unaware of the inappropriate nature of their song choice.
However, once we hit the one-hour mark, the number of jokes that land decreases significantly. For every bit that works (Jim talking about having a threesome with two widows is a riot), there are two or three that don’t. Moments of inspiration give way to prolonged sequences of slapstick that fall flat. Then again, if I’m being honest, there may be some uproarious moments that I missed. My Facebook page was pretty active the night Cordially was playing in the background. Streaming on Amazon Prime.
This article appears in The impossible task of providing child care.
