A vindictive president with a hatred of mainstream news. A legion of mysterious leaks. A newspaper hot on the trail of a massive government scandal. I’m talking, naturally, about the saga surrounding the 1971 leak of the Pentagon Papers—a 47-volume classified study that revealed four separate administrations had been lying about the war in Vietnam. Anchored by fantastic performances by Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks and directed by Steven Spielberg, The Post is just a bit of classic moviemaking—a strong story strongly told.
It’s been a great year for superhero movies, from the John Hughes teen drama of Spider-Man: Homecoming to the loopy delight of Thor: Ragnarok to the pure, resonant heroism of Wonder Woman. But while D.C.’s Diana has earned perhaps the lion’s share of awards-season praise, my favorite is still this gritty quasi-Western with a poignant, affirmational core. I don’t appreciate every decision the film made: Some of the flick feels gratuitously bleak and bloody and sometimes even mean. But the final destination—for me, at least—was worth the bumpy ride.
This flick ain’t for everyone. Some can’t get by Casey Affleck loitering underneath a sheet, or Rooney Mara spending several minutes eating a pie. But sink into this lyrical rumination on time, grief, death and belonging, and you can find yourself thinking about it for days or weeks afterward, like I did. Affecting, spiritual, strangely silly and curiously beautiful, A Ghost Story is an unforgettable movie experience.
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