Anyone else dying to see RECOUNT?

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 4:51pm

I am! Yeah, I know its not exactly popcorn munching spectacular entertainment--in fact, reliving all this is probably about as masochistic as it comes--but I literally can't wait to see this HBO movie. Great article in Salon.com all about it.

And apparently Laura Dern's performance as Katherine Harris is award worthy.
The Ugliest Election: RECOUNT

Posted: 5/23/08 at 4:54pm

I don't think I could watch. I almost had a heart attack watching it unfold.

[jaystarr]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 4:56pm

Its like reliving a nightmare!

J*

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 4:57pm

It might also remind people who the real enemy is.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 4:59pm

Amen, sistuh.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 5:06pm

From the salon article:

""Recount" isn't a polemic. It's driven by moment-to-moment plot twists, told from Klain's point of view, and it avoids explicit moralizing or external editorializing. It tries to be fair to the GOP, including one line in which a Republican operative lashes out at all the previous elections the Democrats had stolen. (There's some validity to his charge: As Toobin notes, the 1984 "Indiana 8" election, widely regarded as an outright theft by the Democrats, helped radicalize a generation of Republicans.) But in its understated way, "Recount" is a devastating indictment of the forces that successfully stopped the counting. It makes it painfully and inescapably clear that the Bush team, the GOP, and ultimately the five Republican justices on the Supreme Court, did nothing less than successfully subvert American democracy in order to get their man in office. Baker may look back on his Florida performance with justifiable professional pride, but a film that depicts you as a key player in one of the most disgraceful episodes in American political history hardly seems like something to break out the popcorn for."

(Klain being Ron Klain, the Gore strategist and Baker, James Baker Bush's chief strategist, both of whom were interviewed for the screenplay and both of whom signed approval on the final draft)

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 5:17pm

I can't wait to see it. Dern looks like she will be perfection.

Im glad this film has been made. This country needs election reform and 2000, 2004, and now 2008 prove that more than ever.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 5:19pm

I just got HBO again and shall celebrate by watching this movie.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 9:00pm

nope, not at all

[Luscious]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 9:47pm

It will probably infuriate me all over again, but I'll definitely be watching. I here it's quite good and that Laura Dern's portrayal of Katherine Harris is reason alone to watch.

[Liverpool]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 9:48pm

Spacey was on Hardball today and they showed some clips, and i must say, Laura Dern's portrayal of Harris is certainly something that will be remembered for a long time.

Plus i love Spacey and Leary so i'll be watching.

[Luscious]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 10:01pm

The review that I read today said that it was among Spacey's finest performances. I'm really looking forward to it, but I know it's going to make me crazy! Hopefully, it will remind people of the desperate need for voting reform.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 10:28pm

And the desperate need to count the votes in Florida and Michigan.

[supportivemom]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 10:55pm

I wish I got HBO because the movie was filmed right here in my hometown. They were casting for extras all around town. The cast looks really good.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 8:14am

I'll probably FF through it at some point, so I can avoid having that Spacey creatures soiling my TV. Laura Dern looks like she's having some good mean fun in the trailers.

[madbrian]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 9:09am

"And the desperate need to count the votes in Florida and Michigan."

Apples and oranges. Although the choice of the word 'desperate' is appropriate.

Updated On: 5/24/08 at 09:09 AM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 1:27am

I found it confusing and unfocused. Much like the actual event. Go figure.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 1:17pm

I thought it had compelling sequences -- the attempts to shut Gore up before he took the mike, Baker's strategy meetings with the GOP -- but it couldn't sustain that ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN-styled emotional suspense. Not because we don't know the outcome (we knew Nixon finally left office), but because we didn't have a strong enough point of access. The Spacey character was flat, didn't have enough dimension, despite the by the numbers sequences of hims kissing his wife, etc. Leary was good, but only Dern and Wilkenson's Baker really caught fire.

Dern has been praised but also accused of resorting to caricature. Not fair. The original Katherine Harris was a walking comic strip, and I felt Dern found something really interesting to focus on: the woman's 24/7 deer in the headlights state of anxiety. She looked terrified throughout, channeling a glimmer of self-awareness, i.e. that Harris was afraid of being found out as someone painfully out of her depth, politically and otherwise. Her screen time was the most watchable, predictably. I also loved all of the shots of the machines in action. Great instruction in the whole ballot business.

I certainly loved the final series of exchanges on the tarmack (NOT SPOILED HERE), irony-laden and a frightening reminder of how different the world might be had the "results" gone in the other direction.

Updated On: 5/26/08 at 01:17 PM

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 1:22pm

I agree. But I did enjoy it. It definitely seemed to capture all of the timeline and showed what a freaking mess our electoral process was that year.

And sadly isn't much better today.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 10/12/08 at 1:56am

Updated On: 1/23/09 at 01:56 AM

[blueroses]

Posted: 10/12/08 at 2:45am

Laura Dern was dynamite.

"She looked terrified throughout, channeling a glimmer of self-awareness, i.e. that Harris was afraid of being found out as someone painfully out of her depth, politically and otherwise."

Shades of a certain Katie Couric interview eight years later?