I vaguely recalled hearing about True Story, but I’m not really a James Franco fan and Jonah Hill is extremely hit or miss for me so I never really thought I would watch it. My wife suggested it as it was On Demand so I agreed and we gave it a go. The story is interesting and it is well acted, but some of the decisions were a little odd. I give True Story the rating of Decent Watch.
True Story is better than expected.
Based on the true story, Michael Finkel (Jonah Hill) was a New York Times writer who was caught in a lie about a story he wrote losing his credibility and his job. Christian Longo (James Franco) was accused of killing his wife and three children and was caught in Mexico using the name Michael Finkel and telling people he was a New York Time’s writer. Finkel hears of Longo’s story and the fact he used his name as a false identity and decides he has to meet him. Finkel begins interviewing Longo and working on a book detailing Long’s story while Longo goes through the process of his trial.
According to Biography.com, both events happened in 2001, but Finkel wouldn’t hear about Longo until 2002. Longo supposedly killed his family in Oregon and dumped the bodies. He then fled into Mexico and began using the name Finkel. Longo later said he was a fan of Finkel’s writing and that’s why he used his name.
The story is pretty crazy and the movie uses the idea of truth in interesting ways. Hill gives one of his better dramatic performances, and Franco isn’t as annoying as I usually find him to be. Much of the film is in the interview room and heavily built around their conversations. I found this interesting, and Franco’s performance kept me suspicious of him yet convinced he could be innocent or guilty. That was the dilemma that Finkel was in of course, he couldn’t risk trusting him and being wrong because that would be the final nail in his career coffin.
Directed by Rupert Goold, who also co-wrote the screenplay with David Kajganich, there are some odd choices made to the visuals in the film. A few times we see Finkel hallucinating about Longo in order to illustrate the inner turmoil he was going through with the weight of information he was being given and the fear of it all being a lie. In a film grounded so heavily in reality and truth using the visuals like that were a little off-putting to me.
Overall, while the film wasn’t bad, it wasn’t amazing. The story is an interesting look at a real life criminal and the desperation a journalist can feel when they’ve lost their credibility. If you have the ability to see it for free and you like dialogue heavy films then this may be one to check out.
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