Alexander Payne is the director who made the George Clooney movie that had our island buzzing last April. Warning: Teen movie, but parental discretion advised. Alexander Payne is the director who made the George Clooney movie that had our island
Alexander Payne is the director who made the George Clooney
movie that had our island buzzing last April.
Warning: Teen movie, but parental discretion advised.
Alexander Payne is the director who made the George Clooney movie that had our island buzzing last April.
He is the Oscar-nominated director and Oscar-winning writer behind “About Schmidt” (Jack Nicholson) and “Sideways,” the hilarious comedy about two friends and their bachelor party week in California wine country. “Election” was Payne’s second film and gave him his break on a mainstream level.
The movie’s theme is the difference between morals and ethics. The film is not religious, but puts every character in a dilemma to figure this question out. Matthew Broderick (“Glory”) plays a civics teacher at a small school in Nebraska. His main trouble is the overzealous and overachieving Reese Witherspoon (“Legally Blonde”) who, among other things, got his friend fired from the school. The movie is a multifaceted, comedic and dramatic look at the choices people make and why.
The title of the movie comes from the center-piece of the plot: the student body presidency is up for grabs. I have watched this film eight to 10 times and it grows on you. I think the director managed to create a high school story with situations that go on in the adult world all the time, so the film is universal. Not many films can be about a certain age and also apply to a completely different time in life.
This film was also the debut of Chris Klein (“American Pie”), who actually came to an open casting call. He was a complete unknown and just had the right look. He does a fantastic job as a naïve football player who is thrust into the world of the election.
This film was rare in the 1990s. The ’90s was driven by the box office. It was also a decade for indie films like this, but not too many indie films had a voice. They just had style or flashy camera work.
We have Tarantino to thank for that. “Pulp Fiction” created an entire legion of filmmakers who had to draw attention to their style — although the style Tarantino was praised for wasn’t even his own. “Pulp Fiction” is the most debatable good movie ever made. All he did was have his editor put the end at the beginning and it is rumored it wasn’t even his idea. Tarantino’s work shaped cinema when it was actually his editor.
That is another reason “Election” is great. Payne relies on story — he’s a writer first who also directs. All three of his mainstream movies I mentioned have Oscar nominations for screenplay; “Sideways” won. The editing, camera work and score of “Election” are great. Payne also managed to get some amazing performances out of an unknown Reese Witherspoon (“Walk the Line”), Chris Klein and this is one of the only movies of Matthew Broderick’s wherein the “Ferris Bueller” stigma doesn’t follow him. You never think “Save Ferris.”
Although this movie is about high school, it’s not an after-school special. So sit back and enjoy what can happen if we don’t pay attention to our morals or ethics. Is there a difference?
Year: 1999
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon
Director: Alexander Payne
Oscars: Nomination-Best Adapted Screenplay
“It’s Complicated” (Meryl Streep) 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 16at Lihu‘e Library. Free.
