September 10, 2024
FILM: WINNER
DIRECTED BY: SUSANNA FOGEL
STARRING: EMILIA JONES, CONNIE BRITTON, ZACH GALIFIANAKIS
RATING: 3 ½ out 4 stars
By Dan Pal
To get it out of the way, this is a film about a person named, yes, Reality Winner. If you’re not familiar with her she was in the news a few years back after leaking documents, suggesting that Russia was involved in hacking the 2016 Presidential election, while working for the NSA. The film Winner is essentially her story from 2001 until 2017. It’s a film that attempts a lot, perhaps too much, but is still quite interesting and Emilia Jones is excellent as Winner.
Director Susanna Fogel explores the character’s early propensity for fighting the good fight especially after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Winner was only nine years old, living with her parents, here played by Connie Britton and Zach Galifianakis, and her sister played by Kathryn Newton. She is quickly developed as a young woman with a bleeding heart: she rescues dogs, recycles, has an Anderson Cooper screen saver, and believes people should have access to the truth. Initially this feels a bit narratively forced and stereotypical but it is based on Winner’s own story so we must assume these are realistic details. There’s also some not so subtle hints that Winner suffers from OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) but the affliction isn’t really given much of a spotlight and frankly, seems to help more than hurt her.
Eventually Winner joins the Air Force which she believes will allow her to travel to Afghanistan where her training in Farsi will serve her well as a translator. Things don’t go as planned and she spends several years transcribing recorded conversations which may be between enemy combatants. Along the way, she gets a boyfriend Andre (Danny Ramirez) and a job with the NSA.
All of the work details may be necessary to establish Winner’s ambitious nature and drive. Some of the scenes involving Andre and her fighting parents though slow down the progression of the story a bit. They’re not really needed to maintain the focus of the script. The scenes with Galifiankas may be based on Winner’s real father’s own personal struggles but they don’t do much to progress the primary plot of the story. His performance is notably darker than we’ve typically seen from Galifiankas. I’m only speculating, but the fact that his scenes weren’t cut suggests the actor may have been needed to get the film produced. He’s good but just not entirely necessary here.
Connie Britton’s role as Winner’s mom initially feels a bit underplayed and below her talents but the character does grow and is involved in a pretty significant plot shift later in the film. The star here though is Emilia Jones, who most people might remember first seeing in the Oscar-winning film CODA. Jones plays Winner from high school until the age of 25 and demonstrates great depth in the role. There’s a maturity to Jones as Winner that becomes incrementally more evident throughout the film. It’s the kind of performance someone like Brie Larson might have played a few years ago. Jones is fierce and committed as Winner. Being born in London, she’s got the tough role of mastering Winner’s accent while also becoming very physically fit.
While some of the personal details of Winner’s life may not have been needed to tell her story, the screenplay should be given credit for its risky exploration of a less than ideal U.S. Air Force, a young person’s decision to join the military vs. attending college, and the government’s keeping of secret details that perhaps its citizens should know something about.
Winner isn’t a perfect film but it centers on an imperfect character who played an important role in recent U.S. history and it’s a pretty engrossing story.
Winner is now available to rent on Amazon Prime.
FILM: WINNER
DIRECTED BY: SUSANNA FOGEL
STARRING: EMILIA JONES, CONNIE BRITTON, ZACH GALIFIANAKIS
RATING: 3 ½ out 4 stars
By Dan Pal
To get it out of the way, this is a film about a person named, yes, Reality Winner. If you’re not familiar with her she was in the news a few years back after leaking documents, suggesting that Russia was involved in hacking the 2016 Presidential election, while working for the NSA. The film Winner is essentially her story from 2001 until 2017. It’s a film that attempts a lot, perhaps too much, but is still quite interesting and Emilia Jones is excellent as Winner.
Director Susanna Fogel explores the character’s early propensity for fighting the good fight especially after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Winner was only nine years old, living with her parents, here played by Connie Britton and Zach Galifianakis, and her sister played by Kathryn Newton. She is quickly developed as a young woman with a bleeding heart: she rescues dogs, recycles, has an Anderson Cooper screen saver, and believes people should have access to the truth. Initially this feels a bit narratively forced and stereotypical but it is based on Winner’s own story so we must assume these are realistic details. There’s also some not so subtle hints that Winner suffers from OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) but the affliction isn’t really given much of a spotlight and frankly, seems to help more than hurt her.
Eventually Winner joins the Air Force which she believes will allow her to travel to Afghanistan where her training in Farsi will serve her well as a translator. Things don’t go as planned and she spends several years transcribing recorded conversations which may be between enemy combatants. Along the way, she gets a boyfriend Andre (Danny Ramirez) and a job with the NSA.
All of the work details may be necessary to establish Winner’s ambitious nature and drive. Some of the scenes involving Andre and her fighting parents though slow down the progression of the story a bit. They’re not really needed to maintain the focus of the script. The scenes with Galifiankas may be based on Winner’s real father’s own personal struggles but they don’t do much to progress the primary plot of the story. His performance is notably darker than we’ve typically seen from Galifiankas. I’m only speculating, but the fact that his scenes weren’t cut suggests the actor may have been needed to get the film produced. He’s good but just not entirely necessary here.
Connie Britton’s role as Winner’s mom initially feels a bit underplayed and below her talents but the character does grow and is involved in a pretty significant plot shift later in the film. The star here though is Emilia Jones, who most people might remember first seeing in the Oscar-winning film CODA. Jones plays Winner from high school until the age of 25 and demonstrates great depth in the role. There’s a maturity to Jones as Winner that becomes incrementally more evident throughout the film. It’s the kind of performance someone like Brie Larson might have played a few years ago. Jones is fierce and committed as Winner. Being born in London, she’s got the tough role of mastering Winner’s accent while also becoming very physically fit.
While some of the personal details of Winner’s life may not have been needed to tell her story, the screenplay should be given credit for its risky exploration of a less than ideal U.S. Air Force, a young person’s decision to join the military vs. attending college, and the government’s keeping of secret details that perhaps its citizens should know something about.
Winner isn’t a perfect film but it centers on an imperfect character who played an important role in recent U.S. history and it’s a pretty engrossing story.
Winner is now available to rent on Amazon Prime.