Christine (2016)

If it bleeds, it leads. In response to such sentiment, reporter Christine Chubbuck committed suicide on live television on July 15, 1974, in Sarasota, Florida. This thoughtful, emotional and compelling film delves into Christine's character and likely motivations for taking her life just shy of her 30th birthday. Dreams of success in both her professional and personal life turned into a series of disappointments and troubles. Assigned to cover dull stories and turned down for promotions by the good ole boys club at her workplace that favored looser women, Christine also had health and family woes and a patronizing love interest. Awkward, often unapproachable and introverted, Christine was also intelligent, amiable, creative and kindhearted. She volunteered at a children's shelter where she presented short plays with puppets named Tangerine and Dragon. Her news ideas seemed brilliant and promising if they were just given the opportunity to succeed, yet none of this mattered in the network's drive for "juicier" and cheaper stories.

In this true story the ending is already known, yet the film is still suspenseful and fascinating. What is remarkable is that attitudes regarding the sensationalism of the news and the treatment of depression have not changed much since the 1970s. You'd think we might have learned something from this story if not from our own experiences since then. The story reminds us to "get to know the people around us," said the script writer after the showing at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. Rebecca Hall is incredible in her portrayal of Christine. Christine's death is not overly dramatized. I liked the soundtrack that included a John Denver song.

Fmovies: Watching this movie isn't easy - and it is not because of the tragic life of Christine Chubbuck. Is the acting good? Yes. Are the period treatments interesting? You bet. Is it a movie that has enough of a narrative to keep you engaged? No.

Assuming this movie is directed with some accuracy, Christine Chubbuck was not an interesting figure. Despite her occasional attempts at light hearted humor, she was introverted and boring. She was an 'ok' journalist (naturally, upset at her lack of validation) and saddled with a maternal figure that clearly wasn't helping her mood. Oh yeah, she also had cancer. Consider all of that, and consider yourself warned.

Christine is one of those movies where you constantly find yourself saying, "oh ok, this is the scene where 'something' happens". Well, nothing happens until the end. You find yourself constantly disappointed she is so blithely average. And this is the problem with a movie like this: It is intentionally lackluster because the main character is lackluster (not the actress, but the character). Even when she manages to provide 3 seconds of "holy crap...did she just...?", the moment is gone and replaced with same banal consistency that led up to the holy crap moment. Why? Because Christine Chubbuck wasn't interesting. She was a throw-away intellect caught inside a vicious world of journalism. Is that tragic? You bet. But does it make for a good movie? Not in this case.

We are often admonished by professional reviewers because us 'average folk' don't appreciate good acting and character development. Well, we do but we also like a beginning, a middle and an end; we like interesting story lines and exciting, unexpected moments. Christine is a languid, directorial display of an uninteresting person caught in the middle. We are blessed with one, exciting moment. And frankly, it is only exciting because it signals the end of a very dry treatment.

Do yourself a favor....watch something else.

Christine, one of the best films I've seen this year, might appear at first to be about a feminist issue - set in 1974 at a small TV station in Sarasota, Florida, a woman named Christine Lubbock (Rebecca Hall) has to contend with her male co-workers and male boss, and where they get preferential treatment (at least seemingly, ultimately) despite being told by her own boss she's the smartest on there - but it's strongest as a depiction of mental illness. This is the subject that actually makes for more compelling subject matter, though it is harsher to see depicted; I cringe watching this film, it's uncomfortable to watch, and despite/because of this it's a brilliant depiction of a bi-polar person and the interior struggle of her life.

There are two fronts this film is successful. The first is the technical aspect. This looks, feels, acted, sounds like a movie from the period in the 70's (you know, back when American cinema was king as far as getting deeper into character and mood and technique and showing a reality moviegoers hadn't been exposed to much before outside of foreign cinema) with Campos and his DP using zoom lenses and shots that linger maybe just a little too long, and audio that sometimes (no, often times) can put us into the state of mind of the character: when Christine is laser-focused, nothing else can detract from her. When she is wary, she may hear the sounds outside that make her a little distracted (there's one scene between Christine and George, played by Michael C Hall, in a car that made me see/hear this). Not to mention the clothes, the music (so much bad 70's pop on the precipice of disco), and how people talked to one another.

The other thing that makes it authentic is how Christine and everyone talks, The dialog here is all about showing the realism of the TV station, and finding the nuance and what surrounds this woman who is very smart. It could be said she has a touch of Asperger's along with the bi-polar, if one wanted to go into a diagnosing-on-the-couch approach. But that takes away from what Campos and Rebecca Hall accomplish with this character. One may be reminded of Nightcrawler from two years ago, also about an ambitious being in the world of news (also, one should say, with a mental or personality disorder of some kind, and access to a police radio for the latest scoop), only while Gyllenhall in that film was a pure sociopath and no lack of communicating what he thinks/feels/sees, Christine's problems are an inability to come out with something all the time.

To be sure she's surrounded by the kind of news culture that has only multiplied exponentially over the past four decades; "If it bleeds, it leads," Christine's boss says, to which Christine reminds him that's a BS catch-phrase. No matter: the pressure is on to get things that people want to see, that brings ratings, and the same "human interest" stories about locals with Strawberry farms or chicken coops won't cut it. But what drew me in to this film was how potent the point of view was for Christine in this world. It's hinted at (or flat out spoken) that she had some previous anxiety/personality/bi-polar disorder issues back in Boston where she used to work, and now being in Sarasota isn't being much of an improvement. So among this news team, where she tries to find her own path and is up against resistance (some understandable, some not), and with friends (Maria Dizza as Jean is as good a supporting performance as from Mich

Christine fmovies. The 70s and its war against authority, the reach for 'more'. Coming off hippies. She has a peculiar spirit, more of an artist, manifesting in the war with the station head being her father figure (he was great); the outcome is the performance art of her suicide. There was maybe nothing more 70s than that.

Hall is so ghostly and immense here. You never get women in film so transformative while being completely unconnected, or anything other than society's glue. 'Yeah but'. The struggle with mental illness is maybe too easy of an out. Would it have been better she remain cool and clinical the whole way, as on her news pieces. Rather than her having wild and emotional outbreaks where they yell about how she suffers from depression?

How come when we know what she's planning it, is it almost exciting, like she's about to get back at all of these horrible people by offing herself? It was like wait a minute, the film can't avoid putting that through since she's so wronged we will root for anything she decides. And then the whole thing feels confused after the event, like there it was, what was the purpose of this again? Albeit maybe the film's uncertainty what to do with it is the nature of suicide?

...But it left the film's biggest misstep, is ending on the rival celebrating her career advancement. It's too easy. It simplifies a gradual meltdown into basic 'humanity is evil' conclusions. It should have focused mainly on the station head father figure, cig in mouth mumbling regrets. and then the mum in a drugged daze, who'd completely let Christine down, poisoning being a woman, imparting no purpose. Maybe show some interaction between them being crucial story symbols, that contrast of mother and (absent) father, would be a far more meaningful and damning way to encapsulate the film and the 70s as a whole, rather than the ruthless cutthroat feminism it concludes with.

I hadn't really read anything about the plot of the film. I only heard the praise for Hall and so I decided to give it a go. A few minutes in and I realized what real-life event it was going to be about and it really soured my mood. It's just not a fun film to watch at all. I've read so much about the real life person that the whole thing was just a very depressing experience. It's hard for me o accurately judge the film as a whole but I can say that Rebecca Hall is devastatingly effective here. There are no false notes in her performance at all and I am tempted to say that it is one of the finest portrayals of depression I have ever seen in a film. She makes you absolutely feel her pain and her sorrow and it all becomes so powerful that it makes the whole thing even more grim. She should be getting all of the award nominations possible and the fact that she has flown so under the radar is absolutely criminal.

Most people who have ever heard of Christine Chubbuck already know how her story ends; She's been attributed to glimpsing into the future of television journalism with her final statement, the story turning into a morbid urban legend in the over forty years since the incident occurred. I admit, the first time I heard the story almost ten years ago, it sounded so bizarre, I almost couldn't believe it.

Christine sets out to humanize Christine Chubbuck, and elicit empathy from an audience that might already see her as someone who is monstrous. Yet, somehow, the movie accomplishes it's goal, giving her humanity that was lost in the headlines. Much of that credit is due to Rebecca Hall who transformed herself completely, throwing herself into the role so thoroughly that it's almost frightening.

The first time we see Christine she is filming herself doing a mock interview, and then later on, we see Christine examining every little gesture, picking herself apart in order to remake herself into something better to gain that elusive feeling of perfection, yet no matter how many times she's assured by Jean Reed (Maria Dizzia), the only person at WZRB that could probably be considered a friend, there's still that look of dissatisfaction with herself etched on her face.

It's been written that Christine Chubbuck used to give puppet shows to mentally challenged children so the screenwriter incorporated that into the film, but it's utilized as little glimpses of what she's thinking: 'Be Bold, Be Brave' she tells them, a fairly innocuous phrase, but for the viewer who knows what's to come later on, it has chilling connotations.

The moment that made Christine Chubbuck famous is shown in all of it's brutal and devastating impact. The film even shows her mother watching as it all unfolds. I don't know if Christine Chubbuck's mother, Peg, was actually watching the day Christine did what she did, but the possibility of that actually occurring, is heartbreaking.

It's a testament to the filmmakers that, though Christine can often come across as incredibly difficult and unlikable, the audience still has a great deal of empathy for her. Yes, she has fights with her boss about 'blood and guts' television, and her mother about the state of her life, but it's carefully contrasted with moments of quiet desperation, like the sequence when the head news anchor, George (Michael C. Hall), takes her to a transactional analysis meeting where they play a game of 'Yes, butÂ…" and Christine slowly reveals the things that she feels make her life impossible to live.

Overall, Christine is a portrait of a woman desperately trying to make something of herself but because of a chemical imbalance, she can't seem to sync with the people and world around her. Anchored by Rebecca Hall who gives an Oscar-worthy turn, Christine is also supported by an excellent supporting cast (Maria Dizzia and J. Smith Cameron in particular), strong direction and an incisive script. Highly recommended.