As complex and conflicted as the man himself, Rudy! A Documusical––which premiered on the same evening as the first primetime January 6 hearing––never quite knows to make of the man. There’s an old joke from Saturday Night Live‘s 9/11 era about making a TV movie featuring Rudy Giuliani and, true to the man himself, no one will like him until the last five minutes.
Directed by Jed Rothstein (WeWork: or the Making and Breaking of a 47 Billion Unicorn and The China Hustle), this look at “America’s Mayor”-turned-Trump-personal-lawyer views Giuliani’s life through the lens of those who knew him well, with a musical performance that seems to enforce an uneasy operatic structure onto his rise and continual fall. The man of the hour himself only appears in found footage and through a theatrical interpretation that walks a fine line between sincere portrait of a now deeply troubled contrarian and political satire.
Directed by Jed Rothstein (WeWork: or the Making and Breaking of a 47 Billion Unicorn and The China Hustle), this look at “America’s Mayor”-turned-Trump-personal-lawyer views Giuliani’s life through the lens of those who knew him well, with a musical performance that seems to enforce an uneasy operatic structure onto his rise and continual fall. The man of the hour himself only appears in found footage and through a theatrical interpretation that walks a fine line between sincere portrait of a now deeply troubled contrarian and political satire.
- 6/15/2022
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
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You can understand why filmmaker Jed Rothstein didn’t want to make a traditional documentary about Rudy Giuliani, whose life and career haven’t exactly been starved for attention. Rothstein’s conceit was to supplement the traditional mixture of archival footage and interviews with scenes from an imagined Broadway-style musical about Giuliani. That may have been a mistake, since the results play more like a standard cable television doc inexplicably accompanied by excerpts from a fringe festival theatrical production.
Nonetheless, Rudy! A Documusical, receiving its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, proves fascinating. How could it not, considering the utterly bizarre downward trajectory of its subject’s reputation? Although in Giuliani’s case, a Broadway musical seems less appropriate than Greek tragedy. Or maybe a horror film, since the older he gets the more he bears a striking resemblance to Nosferatu.
The...
You can understand why filmmaker Jed Rothstein didn’t want to make a traditional documentary about Rudy Giuliani, whose life and career haven’t exactly been starved for attention. Rothstein’s conceit was to supplement the traditional mixture of archival footage and interviews with scenes from an imagined Broadway-style musical about Giuliani. That may have been a mistake, since the results play more like a standard cable television doc inexplicably accompanied by excerpts from a fringe festival theatrical production.
Nonetheless, Rudy! A Documusical, receiving its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, proves fascinating. How could it not, considering the utterly bizarre downward trajectory of its subject’s reputation? Although in Giuliani’s case, a Broadway musical seems less appropriate than Greek tragedy. Or maybe a horror film, since the older he gets the more he bears a striking resemblance to Nosferatu.
The...
- 6/10/2022
- by Frank Scheck
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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