True Story

 TRUE STORY

Director : Rupert Goold

Year : 2015

Genre : Thriller

Rating : ***

 

Marking the second collaboration between Academy Award winning comedians Jonah Hill and James Franco, 'True Story' is an intriguing yet predictable mystery thriller from first-time director Rupert Goold. In the movie, James Franco stars as the disturbed Christian Longo, an escaped felon who has hid in Mexico under the guise of the recently disgraced New York Times journalist Mike Finkle. Upon his re-incarceration, Finkle (Hill) seeks out the potential killer to understand why Longo did what he is accused of doing and in the process, begins to write a book based on his encounters. The rest of the movie explores the burgeoning relationship between the two as conviction day approaches.

While I have not been a fan of either Franco or Hill in the past, both give solid performances in 'True Story'. Hill is completely believable as a writer determined to drag his reputation back out of the mire while Franco is quietly chilling as the dangerous but friendly prisoner who may or may not have slaughtered his family. The on-screen relationship between the two makes some unsettling yet not entirely convincing moments. The direction by newcomer Goold is also impressive - managing to be understated but also calculating and clinical at the same. 

However despite some good performances and a cold visual aesthetic, 'True Story's biggest problem is that it's story is almost identical to that of Bennett Miller's extraordinary 'Capote'; a film which won the late Philip Seymour Hoffman his one and, quite disgracefully, only Oscar. The movie may indeed be based on reality (the picture takes Finkle's own memoirs as inspiration) but the fact is that 'Capote' told the same story in a much more convincing and frankly, memorable way. 'True Story' is a perfectly fine film. It's just a shame that another one did it so much better nearly a decade before.