Revisiting 'Spotlight' (2015) / Awaiting 'Stillwater' (2021)

In some ways, the drama 'Spotlight' (2015) feels like a fresh take on one of America's great contributions to the cinematic form, the western. It's particularly redolent of a classic western scenario in which a group of jaded outlaws (in this case, four undercover reporters) are seen returning to their old stomping ground which has somehow changed while remaining the same. They struggle with complex feelings of guilt and tussle with questions of solidarity (there's almost complete unanimity on the matter at hand in 'Spotlight', which is allegations of widespread child abuse within the Catholic Church, but the reporters have different views on how to approach it). They deal with shifting moral codes while facing up to their own mortality. They seek answers within a closed community that's shielding itself from the skeletons in the back of its own closet.

In 'Spotlight', the uniformity of the camerawork by Japanese director of photography Masanobu Takayanagi is, I feel, essential to maintaining the film's atmosphere. Director Tom McCarthy cuts between cramped offices and paranoid living spaces in Massachusetts. Mobile medium-takes are often used to track the journeys of the film's four protagonists, all of whom are investigators in the Spotlight team, a special unit at 'The Boston Globe' newspaper. The camera moves in front and behind them, even whipping around them on occasion to maintain rhythm and flow. Tight establishing shots become slightly off-kilter as the film's shading turns darker, like when the camera's caught behind a wall, or finds itself peering out from architectural foundations.

I think the "invisible" hand of director McCarthy is key to achieving the type of understated atmosphere that characterises 'Spotlight'. The narrative is structured as a hands-on investigation and the storytelling devotes itself to small details. McCarthy generates the docudrama mood of a reportage piece rather than a straight-up conspiracy thriller, bringing 'Spotlight' into line with probing journalistic features like Fritz Lang's 'While The City Sleeps' (1956), Alan Pakula's 'All The President's Men' (1976), Sydney Pollack's 'Absence Of Malice' (1981) and Michael Mann's 'The Insider' (1999).

Unusually, the direct revelations in 'Spotlight' aren't surprising, nor are they played that way, and it's this that gives them a kind of cumulative power as the story progresses. At the film's heart lies the simple revelation that an entire community bound by doctrine and credos can become desensitised to the effects of abuse carried out against its own members (- which is to say, abuse carried out by its members, appointed, adopted and otherwise). Some community members are aggressive in their stance, while others deploy well-worn responses to defend the established order. The film's general tone of sobriety is never allowed to become sombre, and though its journalistic escapades are always rooted in some kind of mundane reality, the reporters themselves rarely lose their humour.

'Spotlight' offers an appreciation of due diligence and collaborative effort that's testament to the collective work of cast and crew. Their efforts are complimented by Howard Shore's piano score which is used sparingly in service of the investigation.

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'Stillwater' (2021) is a new crime picture from director Tom McCarthy that's set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this month. McCarthy co-wrote the screenplay with Thomas Bidegain, Noe Debre and Marcus Hinchey. Bidegain regularly works as a screenwriter with filmmaker Jacques Audiard; their prison picture 'A Prophet' (2009) might be an interesting reference point with regard to 'Stillwater', which was filmed in Oklahoma and Marseilles. 'A Prophet' looked at the Corsican mob inside a French prison. Despite being a popular tourist destination, the disputed territory of Corsica has one of the highest death rates in Europe, but this is due to organised crime. It's been an intersection point for members of the Milieu and the Mafia to do business. French gangsters in southern cities like Marseilles and Grenoble have long been known as "French connections" for their dealings with illegal black market traders, including gangsters from Catania and Naples in southern Italy. So, 'Stillwater' might touch upon some of these issues.