"Focus" after watching

Leola 2022-04-19 09:01:09

It feels like a reporter investigating clues, a smart brain is essential, but things must be done step by step. The complicated judicial procedures must be followed when it is annoying, the cunning defense lawyers are difficult to deal with and must be rubbed softly, and the piles of dispatching catalogues give the whole film an inexplicable sense of routine.

The film is not the kind of flashy, bombastic film. The same goes for the reporters in the film, who can put their heads in the water and do real work. Confident, sophisticated, and satisfying.

It's forensic for the newspapers to expose child abuse scandals, and some scenes are just Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo scratching the stubble they haven't shave in three days in their humble office, which is exactly the kind of movie As it should be, the film finds a rich, engaging, yet unpretentious way to portray the journalist's basic work, conveying that tactile feel through filing cabinets and copiers.

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Extended Reading
  • Bo 2021-10-20 19:00:10

    The degree of completion is very high, the script is good, the rhythm is good, the performance is good, the scheduling is good, everything is good, but there is no surprise.

  • Darrion 2021-10-20 19:00:10

    The authenticity of the incident is shocking! The torture of the system, the portrayal of the reporter's work (the more dramatic Newsroom), the attention to the progress of the event itself rather than the indulgent lyricism, and the controlled portrayal of the different perspectives and attitudes of several major reporters are all for this. The highest standards of similar social biographical dramas set an example. Constantly asking about something bigger, I think this should be the ultimate responsibility of all art forms.

Spotlight quotes

  • Walter 'Robby' Robinson: You know thirteen priests in Boston who have molested children?

    Phil Saviano: Yeah! Why do you keep repeating everything I say?

    Walter 'Robby' Robinson: [quieter than before] I just like to clarify things.

    Phil Saviano: Maybe you should have clarified it five years ago when I sent you all of this stuff! It's all... right here!

    [silence, Phil composes himself]

    Phil Saviano: May I use your bathroom?

    [pause]

    Matt Carroll: Yeah, sure, Phil.

  • Mitchell Garabedian: Three years ago I get a call from an ex-priest, Anthony Benzovich. He was at Blessed Sacrament back in '62, and he saw Geoghan...

    [waits for two cops to pass by, then continues]

    Mitchell Garabedian: ... taking little boys up to the rectory bedroom. So he's appalled, all right? And tells the bishop about it. The bishop threatens to re-assign him... to South America.

    Mike Rezendes: Jesus.

    Mike Rezendes: Yeah. So, fast forward thirty-five years. Benzovich reads that Geoghan has been charged with molesting hundreds of kids. So, he feels guilty. He calls me.

    Mike Rezendes: So, you have testimony of a priest telling his superiors about Geoghan in '62?

    Mitchell Garabedian: [shakes his head] No, I do not. Because when I call Benzovich in to give a disposition, he comes in with a lawyer.

    Mike Rezendes: Wilson Rogers!

    Mitchell Garabedian: Right. And suddenly, Father Benzovich has a very foggy memory. Can't remember anything. He's useless. So, I go back to work, I forget about it, whatever. Until about a year ago, I find an article about a priest who warned church officials about Geoghan.

    Mike Rezendes: Benzovich went to the press?

    Mitchell Garabedian: Yeah. Local paper, Patriot-Ledger. Nobody saw it. But now I got Benzovich on record. So, I file a motion to depose Benzovich a second time. And Wilson Rogers, that smug son of a bitch, files a motion opposing my motion. And that's when I have him.

    Mike Rezendes: Have him how?

    Mitchell Garabedian: Rogers opposes my motion, so I have to make an argument as to why I'm allowed to depose Father Benzovich a second time. Okay? But this time, I'm allowed to attach exhibits. You follow what I'm saying?

    Mike Rezendes: The sealed documents?

    Mitchell Garabedian: Yes! I can attach the sealed documents that I've gotten in discovery, Mr. Rezendes, the same documents your paper is currently suing for.

    Mike Rezendes: You're shitting me!

    Mitchell Garabedian: What? No, no, I'm not shitting you! So, I pull out the fourteen most damning docs, and I attach them to my motion. And they prove everything. Everything! About the church, about the bishops, about Law...

    Mike Rezendes: And it's all public! Because your motion to oppose Rogers' motion...

    Mitchell Garabedian: ...is public, yeah. Exactly. Now you're paying attention.

    Mike Rezendes: So, I can just walk into that courtroom right now and get those documents?

    Mitchell Garabedian: No, you cannot. Because the documents are not there.

    Mike Rezendes: But you just said they're public.

    Mitchell Garabedian: I know I did. But this is Boston. And the church does not want them to be found. So, they are not there.