Post by StevePulaski on Sept 20, 2016 17:16:44 GMT -5
Absence of Malice (1981)
Directed by: Sydney Pollack
Directed by: Sydney Pollack
Sally Field.
Rating: ★★½
Absence of Malice serves as a semi-compelling work of journalistic film noir, although I'd argue that in order to appreciate this one, you have to be very involved in the process of newsgathering and the legalities surrounding it or working in one of the fields yourself. Films about journalism, such as All the President's Men or even the forgotten comedy The Front Page starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, in a general sense, can captivate based on profiling the stakes at hand, or recounting the process behind leaking or revealing information to the public. Absence of Malice gets deep into the conventions of journalism, so much so that your entertainment and reaction to it will generally be how harrowing you find the idea of an investigative reporter driving to confront her main-man or the fierce clacking of keyboards on a slow news day.
Sally Field stars as the aforementioned reporter, Megan Carter, the center of the film upon writing a front-page story in Miami newspaper saying that Michael Gallagher (Paul Newman), a liquor wholesaler, is being investigating for the sudden disappearance and alleged presumed murder of Joey Diaz, a union hot-shot. Megan obtains the news from a file left on her desk by Elliot (Bob Balaban), a federal prosecutor, who has plans himself to start getting information from Gallagher about what happened to Diaz.
An outraged Gallagher comes to the newspaper office to question the source of the story, to which Megan doesn't comply. Meanwhile, Gallagher's liquor business is shuttered by the union, and it isn't until Teresa (Melinda Dillon), a close-friend of Gallagher and a devout Catholic, comes forth to tell Megan that he couldn't have committed the crime because he was taking her across town to get an abortion that same weekend. Like no investigative journalist with even the complete and total absence of ethics would do, Megan writes the story all-but confirming Gallagher's innocence, and hears of Teresa's suicide almost immediately after.
Megan doesn't seem to operate nor act like any kind of investigative journalist you'll ever see, with a complete and total disregard for the unwritten code of ethics among journalists. She writes a story based on the remnants of a source that is basically a wink and a nudge in her direction, and takes "off the record" information and makes it the thesis of her followup, effectively ruining the life of one person and ending the life of another, even with the absence of malice.
On top of that, where exactly are the editors for this particular newspaper, and in what frame-of-mind would they have to be on any given day to allow the original story of Gallagher's alleged involvement with the murder of Diaz break, let alone on the front-page of a presumably well-respected newspaper? The whole thing reeks of suspension of disbelief, and that's a phrase I shouldn't be using when describing a film about the process of investigative journalism.
If you can get past those shortcomings, you'll find that Absence of Malice does indeed have glimmers of hope and strength amidst its misguided idea of the role and actions of your run-of-the-mill investigative journalist. It features the quintessential to every film of the genre, which is bitingly honest dialog that is fired off in a quick-wit only a news-writer could so boldly possess. On top of that, it plays like a slowburn detective story, with the interview and newsgathering process being at the forefront of the story, and being that those are two facets of the world that need more exposure on film, it's hard to completely dismiss the film entirely. There's a great deal of cold-hearted insights into public perception, such as the idea that when a man confesses he's guilty, everyone believes him, but when he asserts he's innocent, nobody cares nor believes him.
Newman and Field do strong work, particularly Newman who needs to play victim without obviously doing so, and Field's performance finds strength in profiling a woman who lacks the ability to differentiate when to be a reporter and when to be a human being, with emotions and compassion. The show-stopper, however, is Wilford Brimley with a tardy, walk-off performance as the Assistant Attorney General who comes in to act as an arbiter of sorts when the stories get out of hand. He's sardonic, cynical, and humorous in just the right modest doses, and his woolly appearance and dialect does him all the right favors.
Absence of Malice, while difficult to believe in many instances, does do a nice job at showing reckless journalistic practice and what happens when a lot of intelligent people throw any kind of hope for ethical practice right out the window. It's buoyed by a slew of great performances in a film that captures the intensity in a subdued manner, almost to function as a complement to the previously stated idea of intelligent people throwing away everything they've been taught to do. There's an absence of malice, sure, but there's frequently an absence of a method behind the film's madness.
Starring: Sally Field, Paul Newman, Bob Balaban, Melinda Dillon, and Wilford Brimley. Directed by: Sydney Pollack.