State of Play (2009): An Horror Film

without the traditional horror of bizarre distorted images.

State of Play is a 'twist and turn' thriller about a rising U. S. congressman and an hippy type investigative journalist embroiled in a case of seemingly unrelated, brutal murders. The saga is sprinkled generously with political ideas and Google rich images that identify it as a film designed to make money but to do it with style, with an intent to entertain and to speak to its audience with hopes of a huge largess.

Starring: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman, Helen Mirren, Jeff Daniels, Josh Mostel, Michael Weston, Barry Shabaka Henley, Viola Davis

Screenwriter: Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, Billy Ray

There are films that seem bigger than life. As they unfold the bigger than life images, the sound, the strength of the music and voices and the extraordinary acting seem to rise to a level that is new, different and so engaging the entire real world disappears in the viewing moments. The creation of another fantasy Universe takes over and we forget where we are or why.

This out of life/self experience is even more true for State of Play because we are allowed to see people(actors) who have faces we can recognize and bodies! It isn't just a film with a huge number of heads talking without benefit of shoulders, torso or extremities of note.

As the story unfolds with all the twists and turns of a good tale, there are moments worth laughing at and moments when the horror of today's world is on the enlarged screen and we can't escape even though we may want to. This is a film of today, in content, in the production and expertise of creation It is a film that forces us to examine our own personal prejudices.

From the opening scene we would think, although we may not want to, that this is another black drug addict victim crime with all the preconceived notions that are so very familiar to us all. There is a list of credits and then the film starts and we see how wrong, how painfully wrong we are. This is a film that brings out not the petty black male drug pusher but the white male criminal of today, the white collar "powerful" who know only the moment of their potential self worth, without the ability to cherish those who love, those who understand that we are a people united by the quality of our connection to one another, our ability to procreate with love, not by the size of our net worth.

Once seen the film promises to remain in clear focus for years to come

Opens Friday in theaters everywhere

LindaZises
WBAI Women Collective