IR Film Review: TESLA [IFC]
The ideal of Nikola Tesla as a structure of vision is well documented but his history and prevalence is not. In approaching Tesla as an independent, director Michael Almereyda wants to create a balance of a person haunted by fame but yet in awe of it. His ideas are revolutionary and yet the idea of how to present them to the masses is fraught. As many have seen the facts (or at least verifiable history) of Tesla on History Channel documentaries, the notion of the man (like Howard Hughes) is so much deeper. The texture here is too jazzy to be truly effective. Ethan Hawke disappears into the role but there is never truly anything transcendent about the performance. Oddly enough it is the essence of Sandra Berhardt is one beautifully lit sequence that instead takes the interest of the viewer as she is bathed in gold within Tesla. The aspect of the Colorado scenes which should be transformative seem to be approach almost like a low rent version of The Mandalorian's Volume approach but one where you can see the lines. One can see the potential of what could have been done but also what is needed to realize the biopic of this man. It focuses on a viable part of his life and pays heed to much of his aspects (including the much talked about "Death Ray") but merely mentions in passing his demise penniless at the Hotel New Yorker. That is obviously Hawke's fascination but as the man devolves into something of a pathological scattered mess there is no explanation for this path beyond his own mania which is never fully explored. The interaction with JP Morgan and his daughter Annie which shows that clear path is done well but the use of her as a sort of modern narrator doesn't quite fit the flow. As with Almereyda's modern art sensibility, one scene where Hawke as a Tesla resounds with an 80s anthem of sorts plays to the underlying themes but doesn't bring them to bear. Kyle MacLachlan has moments as Thomas Edison shown more as a egotist PR figurehead than one of vision though the interrelation with the electric chair is one of the more interesting moral dichotomies that the film shows. Ultimately its delivery, through the candlelight photography (reminiscent of certain aspects of "Barry Lyndon") is beautiful, it doesn’t do credence to what this story could be say with the scope of a film like "The Aviator". Two different worlds of course but the essence of the man deserves a wider swath despite intention under specific circumstances. C-
By Tim Wassberg
