Christine

source: Christine

Life is precious. Bad times always get good again eventually. Winter turns to spring and you feel the warmth of the sun on your face again. So what drives someone – anyone – to the point of despair sufficient for them to ignore all of the potential upturns and to take their own life? Christine tells the tragic tale of Florida TV news reporter Christine Chubbuck who committed suicide live on air in 1974. Yes, this is a spoiler, but since most people have some sense of what a film is about before they go to see it, it's not really a big one. And I think in this case, knowing the outcome is pretty essential since otherwise you will likely spend 2 hours getting increasingly irritated by the erratic behaviour of the lead character and may possibly turn it off. With this movie, the telling is in the journey – not the destination. London-born Rebecca Hall ("The Town") plays the 30 year old virgin Christine; a damaged article with past mental issues, she has been moved by her mother Peg (J Smith-Cameron) from Boston to Florida to make a fresh start. But the station is struggling and Christine's insistence on pursuing dull but worthy stories, such as zoning disputes, isn't helping: she is driving her boss (Tracy Letts) to distraction. Despite her spiky demeanour and unapproachable nature, her colleagues including Jean (Maria Dizzia), the show's anchor (and potential deflowerer) George (Michael C Hall) and weatherman Steve (Timothy Simons from "Veep") all do their best to support her. It is part of the true tragedy of the piece that her downward spiral continues despite their best efforts. Hall is outstanding in the role. She portrays the crazily compulsive behaviour of Chubbuck extremely well: perfectionism gone wild as she attempts to edit out 3 seconds off a clip while the film is already in the machine. At times the other-worldliness and creepiness of her character become extremely unsettling; an excruciating scene with a married couple in a bar being a case in point. Overall it's an extremely thoughtful portrayal that is as quiet and unassuming as Ruth Negga's in "Loving" (but without the smiles or the charm). I would like to think that after the Oscars team picked the 'obvious contenders' of Portman, Stone and Huppert, and with a place 'reserved' for Streep, they were left with Negga and Hall and had a "dammit, we can only pick 1 out of 2 here" moment. Letts as the crotchety station chief also delivers a fine performance, and it's a shame that the script never gave us the chance to see his post-shooting reactions, since the 'if only' ramifications for him in particular must have been huge. In retrospect, Chubbuck's actions were bizarre: taking her life in such a public way (and insisting the show be recorded for her "reels") strikes of narcissism and a bitter revenge. While the film is no doubt based on the true recollections of the real-life participants, the screenplay by Craig Shilowich, in an impressive writing debut, for me never quite closed that loop: why this way rather that a car and a hosepipe? Directed by Antonio Campos, this is never an easy watch. It's a bit like watching a car crash in ultra-slow motion, and pretty much mandates that you watch an episode of "Father Ted" afterwards to cheer yourself up! But it's a fascinating study in mental decline, and it's a useful reminder that it behoves all of us to pay more attention to others around us and reach out with real help if needed before the worst can happen. (Please visit bob-the-movie-man.com for the graphical version of this review. Thanks).

It's 1973 Sarasota, Florida. Christine Chubbuck (Rebecca Hall) is a struggling TV news reporter doing humanist stories. Watergate is heating up and she is high-minded about reporting. George (Michael C. Hall) is the handsome anchor. Camerawoman Jean is her best friend. Station manager Michael tells them that the station is failing and pushes, "If it bleeds, it leads." Christine's doctor has a dire diagnosis. Station owner Bob Andersen has purchased another news station in big market Baltimore and is looking take along one reporter. Pressure mounts as she does something shocking on live TV. This movie is based on true events as it tells the audience in the opening credits. It's hampered by a story that climaxes in one big moment after two meandering hours. There are lots of interesting sign posts to detour from the path but the story never goes down those roads. There's a great creepy gun guy but he's an one-off. There's a truncated affair that never starts. We're left with an intriguing performance from Rebecca Hall of a tightly wound woman but it is mostly internal. It's two hours of frustrating powerlessness as we watch a woman drowning in her own mind. That could be compelling but somehow, this is unsatisfying.

The tragic story of a young, promising reporter struggling with depression. For anyone reading this and suffering, you are not alone. Many people go through hard times in life and in their own heads. You MUST remember that circumstances and states of mind can change for the better and even quickly. Please don't make a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Christine (2016) A small market local television station in Western Florida in the 1970s might be the epitome of tawdry, pathetic America. Or so it appears here, where a rag-tag crew of struggling journalists and talking heads patch together a low budget news show every day. And ratings are going down. Christine (played by Rebecca Hall) is a second string reporter in this wishful situation. Her life is full of compromises, and her efforts to excel at her work are awkward and sometimes sad. But she has determination, and works hard. When two of her colleagues are chosen over her for promotion, it's just another reminder that life sucks. First point to make here: don't read anything about the big point of this movie ahead of time. I was lucky to not have a clue what this was all leading up to, and it was a final terrific punch to a slow, empathetic lead up. By empathetic I mean that the movie makers (writer Craig Shilowich and director Antonia Campos) have shown the situation for what it was. It took a lot of restraint to keep this from turning to parody, or to become critical, or even to be highly dramatic in a kind of glitzy way. There is a steady, almost disappointing feeling to it all. Not a single character seems admirable, and yet every one is perfectly ordinary and nice. Even the incompetence throughout is a normal kind of mediocrity, mixed with sprinkles of hope and humor. And people are generally good to each other even as they strive to move up (and out of Sarasota). It's a realistic construction of a mise-en-scene that will not sparkle or create intrigue or move you in particular. Until the end. And that's pretty amazing. The dullness and the acting might strike you as just bad— as if this movie just plain sucks. But it's not the movie, but the subject, that is so uninspiring. Stick it out, if you like it at all. Admire Hall's acting, which is remarkably nuanced.

I suppose you could call "Christine" a kind of real life version of "Network" since it tells the story of Christine Chubbuck who shot herself live on air in 1974 but this is a much more lowkey affair, an indie production and it shows. It's as if writer Craig Shilowich felt he didn't need to add any drama to a story that was supposedly dramatic enough and director Antonio Campos films it with the same cold lack of emotion he applied to "Afterschool" and "Simon Killer" but this is a film that could do with a touch of melodrama. As the slowly disintegrating reporter Rebecca Hall does what she can with the part but it's the kind of role we have seen so often in the movies before and Hall does nothing new with it other than look perpetually glum. Perhaps the only surprise isn't that Chubbuck kills herself but that she done it on air. Didn't anyone see the signs? It's not that the film is actually boring but given the material it really should have been so much better.

Greetings again from the darkness. On July 15, 1974, television news reporter Christine Chubbuck read a prepared statement and then committed suicide on-air by putting a gun to her head and pulling the trigger. You may not recognize her name, but you have likely heard the story it's no urban legend. Director Antonio Campos and writer Craig Shilowich offer up a biopic with some insight into Ms. Chubbuck's personal and professional life so that we might better understand what drove her to such a public and tragic end. Rebecca Hall takes on the titular role (don't mistake this for the 1983 John Carpenter/Stephen King film), and despite her usual stilted on screen mannerisms, she delivers what is an emotionally raw and nuanced performance that is the best of her career and one that keeps us glued to a story of which we already know the ending. We see a woman dedicated to her vision of the profession, while being maddening to those who know her, love her, and work with her. She has an awkward intensity that compounds her lack of social skills and an ongoing struggle with depression. Somehow, Ms. Hall allows us to understand the personal and professional struggles and how things could have spiraled into hopelessness for Christine. The commentary on the early days of tabloid journalism ("If it bleeds, it leads") is especially interesting given how the current Presidential campaigns have been covered more than 40 years after the film is set. One might also note the parallels to the character of Howard Beale in Network (1976) though Christine Chubbuck was less vociferous and never took to yelling "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore" while on camera (though she evidently felt that way). Support work comes from Tracy Letts as the frustrated news director, Michael C Hall as the mixed-signals anchorman on whom Christine has a quiet crush, J. Smith-Cameron as her mother and housemate, Maria Dizzia as her friend and co-worker, and Timothy Simons as the misunderstood and ignored weatherman. The film clearly makes the point that Christine was a misfit in her work and personal life, and though some of the timeline and known specifics are either re-worked or ignored for artistic purposes, Ms. Hall must be commended for highlighting the effects of depression. Even the best meaning friends and family can unintentionally make things worse. We see a clip of Walter Cronkite's actual report of her death, and Christine's own words - "The latest in blood and guts" - were actually ahead of her time.

Christine (2016/I) was directed by Antonio Campos. Rebecca Hall plays Christine Chubbuck, a TV reporter in Sarasota, Florida. This is a fictionalized biography of Ms. Chubbuck. If you check Wikipedia, you'll know that much of what we see actually happened. Christine Chubbuck was a person with depression, or possibly bipolar illness. She was well educated and financially comfortable, but her interpersonal life was in shambles. In the film, her behavior was strange and sometimes bizarre. People keep asking her, "Are you OK?" She always assures them that she's OK, and they believe her. Even if they don't fully believe her, they have their own problems, and they move on to other matters. Rebecca Hall is an excellent actor. She resembles Christine Chubbuck physically. (That's probably one of the reasons she got the part.) She makes us believe in Christine and her problems, which is no easy task. (People who don't have mental illness find it hard to fake.) This is a difficult movie to watch, but I felt that the acting was strong, and the message was important. I wish the producers had rolled a statement before the credits saying, "If you, or someone you know, feels and acts like Christine, call this hotline." We saw the movie at the excellent Little Theatre in Rochester NY. It will work very well on the small screen.

I would seriously love to give Christine more than just 6/10, because its subject matter is something fiercely sad, morbid and, real. However, this film illustrated the whole issue in a not so capturing way. If I had known who Christine Chubbuck was before watching this movie, given how this story was told, I would've spent the whole movie just waiting to finally see the act that ended it all, and paid not as much attention to her life story to properly connect. But, I didn't know who Christine Chubbuck was before watching this film, and still, that impacted negatively. I spent a good 90% - 95% of Christine, trying to figure out what the movie was about. In the beginning, is it about a Nixon interview? Is it about Christine's career? Further into the movie; Is it about her connection to the TV station? Is it about her family life? A little deeper into the movie; Is it about the stomach pains? Is she bi-polar? Is she depressed? Is it about having a baby and it dies? What is this movie about? Also, what happened in Boston? Christine was a cluster of questions, one after the next, then with 10 minutes left of the movie, the viewer is given a tragic consequence to what perhaps, are still unanswered questions. This film is of depression, and understandably, especially given that it is a bio drama, depicting the theme is by connecting us to the patient and their life and reason as to why this disease has a hold on them. Sadly, the bio and depression combo can make for a not so captivating depiction, however, it doesn't make the story any less tragic, sad and heartbreaking. Rebecca Hall, what can I say, I love her more and more with every performance, and Michael C. Hall, it was good seeing him do such a good job outside of Dexter. Like I said, I would love to give Christine more than just 6/10, just for its sheer subject matter depth, but, the movie itself lacked some sort of intensity and connectivity that if it had, this film would've been a misty-eyed lump in your throat artistic tribulation.

I hadn't really read anything about the plot of the film. I only heard the praise for Hall and so I decided to give it a go. A few minutes in and I realized what real-life event it was going to be about and it really soured my mood. It's just not a fun film to watch at all. I've read so much about the real life person that the whole thing was just a very depressing experience. It's hard for me o accurately judge the film as a whole but I can say that Rebecca Hall is devastatingly effective here. There are no false notes in her performance at all and I am tempted to say that it is one of the finest portrayals of depression I have ever seen in a film. She makes you absolutely feel her pain and her sorrow and it all becomes so powerful that it makes the whole thing even more grim. She should be getting all of the award nominations possible and the fact that she has flown so under the radar is absolutely criminal.