When the gunfire stops, the camera moves in on a boy sitting on the steps of a building, his head partly covered by his coat as if hes grabbing a nap. But the filmmakers invent an antagonist of near-mythic stature to make her lust for a win: Billy Bob Thorntons Pat Candy, who works for the leading candidate. Walking into the room with the campaign team, she gives a fiery and inspirational speech about how important it is to go negative, and that anybody with a problem with that will be given a set of balls. At a large debate with all the candidates, Jane is found behind the stage backdrop during the debate. Castillo wins the vote by a small margin. Screenwriter Peter Straughans script originally featured a male protagonist, but Bullock makes the role her own, from vomiting into a wastepaper basket and mooning the opposition to shrewdly choreographing an on-air attack of tears for her candidate. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. [9] On October 10, Joaquim de Almeida and Zoe Kazan joined the cast, with Almeida playing Castillo, the former president of Bolivia, and Kazan playing a young woman who finds dirt on political candidates. "- Castillo: This llama will lead us toward prosperity. His loyalty comes mostly from the fact that Castillo, who was president at the time, took a young Eduardo on his arm during a rally in his town. Our Brand Is Crisis is a 2015 American comedy-drama film directed by David Gordon Green and written by Peter Straughan, based on the 2005 documentary film of the same name by Rachel Boynton. She is then seen in the middle of the protest, and sees Eddie. Candy is outside the hotel in his chauffeur-driven SUV and offers Jane, Ben, and Nell a ride to the airport. Verdict. Jane is goaded by patronizing men into proving herself in ways shes not proud of. Cut back to the interview that opened the film. The disillusioned Eduardo joins his brothers at a demonstration of people demanding change. Once a political idealist, she increasingly was a strategist for hire outwardly not caring about the actual politics of her boss. SALON is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com, LLC. 107 minutes Cast Sandra Bullock as 'Calamity' Jane Bodine Anthony Mackie as Ben Billy Bob Thornton as Pat Candy Zoe Kazan as LeBlanc Scoot McNairy as Buckley Ann Dowd as Nell Director David Gordon Green Screenplay Peter Straughan Writer (original documentary) Sometimes its both, as in Kathy Bates sharp-tongued, soft-hearted adviser in Primary Colors. 1h 47m. Meanwhile, the senior advisors (Ben, Nell and others) talk about Jane and Candy, how they had sex previously, and how she spread a rumor during a campaign that Candys candidates daughter was on drugs. But the fact that it wants to also squeeze in a redemptive tale is completely at odds with the work the protagonist is doing. By what name was Our Brand Is Crisis (2015) officially released in India in English? But Boynton has done her own framing: This campaign is a precursor to tragedy. Candys played by Billy Bob Thornton, and his serpentine southern charm and minimalist tonsorial stylings suggest real-life political maven James Carville (and it is perhaps no accident that Thornton played a deep-fried political strategist in Primary Colors, too) who was in the aforementioned documentary. Goni fled the country five days later, and now lives in exile in the U.S., which has refused to extradite him to Bolivia to face trial for extrajudicial killings and other crimes against humanity. Thats why Hollywood had to invent a character with such powers: the knowing, salty political consultant. The way Jane and her team approaches politics makes them good at their job, but it also makes them cynical people, and the movie rarely questions their behavior until the very end when it does so in the most heavy-handed manner possible. Our Brand Is Crisis still could have been an excellent tale, but told through a soft prism of second chances and good intentions, we can't buy what Green is selling. We know this stuff happens, but its still clarifying to see the curtains pulled back. [23], Eric Kohn from Indiewire wrote that the movie is all about Bullock's performance, saying "she imbues her part with a ferocious energy that constantly elevates the straightforward material". Our Brand Is Crisis is a sharp political comedy ostensibly based on Bolivia's 2002 presidential election. Honestly, I didnt know what to expect, on a number of levels. Either the character repents, and you have a cornball ending, or the character doesnt, and you have a soapy endorsement of sociopathy. A screenshot shows Castillo at 8% with Rivera leading with 36%. Rivera is on, holding two babies during a campaign stop, confessing how hes doubly lucky, and promises to run a positive campaign. Have they learned nothing? The 2005 Our Brand Is Crisis was the second documentary about Carvilles political work, following 1993s The War Room, in addition to Carvilles dramatic acting rsumand cable news career. Its great fun. The police arrive and the demonstration quickly turns into a riot. Illustration by Hudson Christie. January 14, 2016. I think you pull it, Joshua Jackson says to Lizzy Caplan sensually. Our Brand Is Crisis. [21] It had a wide release in 2,202 theaters for 21 days. Candy calls Jane and invites her to go out again. Loosely based on true events, Our Brand Is Crisis, follows Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) and her campaign team when they are hired to help Pedro Castillo win a presidential election in Bolivia. She tells him shes going home tomorrow. He suggests maybe later they can go out. When it does, Jane moons the Rivera bus. [10] On October 13, 2014, Participant Media announced that they would co-finance the film with Warner, while Jeffrey Skoll and Jonathan King would executive produce, along with Bullock and Stuart M. Now, the film is so heavily fictionalized that it's much more an emotive or thematic . They make big promises that mean jack shit. Getting hurt is unavoidable, she tells him. The film starts with Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) being interviewed. Jane meets with Castillo who says shes a liability. Rivera then repeats the quote Jane told Candy. Goni was in effect the candidate of the Washington consensus, the guy who would bring a small, fractious and deeply divided country into the established international economic order. [3], The film opened on October 30, 2015, alongside Burnt and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. He denies being a member of the cult. It is considered to be the most important process in public relations." PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here. Negative ads are now running for Castillos campaign. if (window.self != window.top) {nf=''} else {nf='NF/'}; Toronto Film Review: 'Our Brand Is Crisis' Sandra Bullock plays a ruthless political stategist in a role inspired by Rachel Boynton's docu and intended for producer George Clooney to play. [11] More casting was also announced, which included Reynaldo Pacheco, Dominic Flores, Louis Arcella, and Octavio Gmez. Although I hasten to add that even by the standards of Bullocks implacable, steel-jawed underacting this is a dull performance. In its best moments, Our Brand Is Crisis is reminiscent of Wag the Dog; it knows how fucked politics is and acts accordingly. Underneath it all plays Ten Years Afters Id Love To Change The World, the absolute nadir of Woodstock-era protest rock; the movies sound editor deserves some kind of award for smoothly deleting the songs opening volley against dykes and fairies.. Read full review SEE ALL 35 REVIEWS User Score Write a Review 6.4 Positive: 23 But when youre reviewing a political drama, you have to be careful to pay close attention. 17-Down, Three Letters: Party for One artist Carly ___ Jepsen. Despite Sandra Bullocks strong lead performance, David Gordon Greens film cant push a hopeful tone past its depressing reality. Our Brand is Crisis (2015) (964) 6.1 1 h 47 min 2015 X-Ray R. A Bolivian presidential candidate failing in the polls enlists the firepower of an elite American management team, led by the deeply damaged but still brilliant strategist Jane Bodine. The corporations whined and complained, but ultimately decided that 18 percent was a lot better than nothing. Fliers are discovered, authored by the La Paz Grassroots that say Castillo had a three year affair. She looks across the large foyer to see Candy sitting outside his room. While it would have been nice if the supporting characters were just as well developed (Candys entire purpose seems to be to enter a scene, taunt Jane, and then leave), Jane is a compelling figure, and its unfortunate that the film doesnt match her complexity. Candy says he will be going to overseas for a British campaign. Some reviews said it was ambiguous. There's only one wrong in this, only one, and that is losing!". [19] Additional filming occurred in Puerto Rico and Bolivia. Jane insist they go negative in spite of this, but Castillo says no. Its pretty powerful, actually. Mimicking the behavior in the actresss previous film, Minions, Jane is shown mooning a bus. Like before, it came from La Paz Grassroots, but this time it really did come from Candy. All rights reserved. David Gordon Green keeps the perspectives shifting, getting lots of good angles on this three-ring circus. But it seems as though screenwriter Peter Straughan and director David Gordon Green realized near the end that theyd written a feature-length film celebrating consultants ability to install a lying, oligarchic, IMF-beholden stooge to a South American presidency, and decided they ought to wrap things up more palatably. OUR BRAND IS CRISIS barely holds together as the story moves from campaign incident to campaign incident. (A heavy back story is subsequently revealed, followed by an ever heavier back story to the back story.) Jane is on the set but is only seen in the background on a lounge chair, still looking unwell. 2/4[], Our Brand Is Crisis fun until it gets serious For too long, the stakes play second fiddle to the strategists and even the candidates remain too elusive to make the audience care as much as it should. The message I got from this movie was very positive. But if you can be wary of those things, I do recommend this film. Afterwards, Jane sends 3 Bolivian singers to show up at Candys door. Bodine had fled the consulting scene for years after an eruption of conscience that pushed her to mental breakdown, sobriety, and pottery. The rest of the movie is her telling the story of what happened after her resignation. In Bolivia, the situation is tense: Bodine learns that the indigenous people, who are a majority in the country but lack any real political power, are protesting for constitutional reform to get proper representation. There is only one wrong thing to do, she says: Losing. The go-to source for comic book and superhero movie fans. His slickness fits the milieu. Thankfully, were usually too wrapped up in Bullocks great performance to mind the films cognitive dissonance. If youve been following the drama in the House, the inability of most every Republican presidential candidate to lift off, or really any news from American politics over the last 10 or 239 years, you might have noticed that politics is difficult. However, Castillo refuses to give permission for the team to do so. She needs a cigarette, so she walks out the door into a large open foyer. At the start, Jane has been out of the consulting game for several years, following a traumatic mayoral race. Still offensive? On a campaign bus heading toward a remote Bolivia location on a small dirt road, they discover Riveras bus is directly ahead of them. From campaign incident Gordon Greens film cant push a hopeful tone past its reality! A British campaign once a political idealist, she says: losing Castillo had a release. Completely at odds with the work the protagonist is doing the curtains pulled back you. 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