IR Film Review: NEWS OF THE WORLD [Universal]
The aspect of a journey of remembrance is based in the notion of growth and what it means to connect. Tom Hanks has mostly selected films that reflect this idea, either in the characters that are searching or how they are reaching out to others. His films from "Forrest Gump" to "Joe Vs. The Volcano" to "A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood" reflect this. "News Of The World" continues this tradition in a literal form. Hanks play a journeyman who travels from village to village reading the news to those who perhaps don't have that gift. In doing so he reflects the hopes of their future. The variable here is a little girl he comes upon in his travels whose parents were killed and then her Indian captors who raised her as their own. She is primal while he is educated. The ideal is the branching of communication. Again, as with most Hanks vehicles, it is an exercise in old school filmmaking with a texture of new processes.
Like their previous collaboration with "Captain Phillips", Hanks and director Paul Greengrass try to keep the action and journey as grounded as possible. With the exception of a few massive overhead CG shots, it keeps with them on the trail or over a fire. The movie has scope but it plays in intimate terms. One scene where the little girl returns to her homestead and the way she is led there and discovers her tragedy is both simply and effectively done. It is a difficult balance because the little girl has be empathetic but also destructive enough to alienate almost everyone around her. Hanks has the ability to transcend that intention because of a cleverly thought and understood idea of abandonment himself, which is both his fault and yet not. "News Of The World" walks the line creating an intricate character drama but with the scope worthy of the big screen (though it was seen on small one). B
By Tim Wassberg
