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Tom McCarthy's 'A Statement' Reviews: A Talkfest on Climate Change
Confirmed
In Short: Deadline, IndieWire, and The Hollywood Reporter review Tom McCarthy's 'A Statement,' a film that explores a 1980 climate conference.
Tom McCarthy's 'A Statement' has garnered attention for its exploration of a 1980 climate conference, where experts convened to address the CO2 problem.
The film, based on Nathaniel Rich's non-fiction book 'Losing Earth,' features a cast including John Turturro, Amy Ryan, and Jason Clarke.
Deadline notes that the film's modest ambitions come at the right time to remind viewers of the shared humanity needed to tackle climate change.
IndieWire observes that McCarthy's film, while talky, is a treatise on language's failure to convey meaning, especially in the context of climate change.
The Hollywood Reporter praises McCarthy's methodical approach, highlighting the film's dynamic dialogue and strong performances.
Variety points out that the film offers a glimpse into 1980, revealing how early the climate crisis was recognized.
IndieWire's review notes that the film's lack of a definitive statement from the 1980 conference highlights the ongoing struggle to address climate change.
Deadline's review concludes that despite its unconventional structure, 'A Statement' is oddly feel-good in its own peculiar way.
The film's release comes at a time when climate change remains a polarizing political issue, with administrations like the current one withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement.
The film's talky nature and focus on process and debate make it a compelling, if challenging, watch for those interested in climate change discussions.
What this adds
The film's release coincides with recent news of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's recusal from a major climate-change case due to his stock holdings in oil companies.
While the film focuses on the 1980 conference, it highlights the ongoing debate and lack of progress in addressing climate change.
Background
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito recused himself Monday from the climate-change case Suncor v. Boulder, after facing calls to step aside due to his stock holdings in oil companies.
While some focus on individual figures like Ed Sheeran, others argue the broader implications of AI safety should be the primary concern.
A Statement is an upcoming American black comedy drama film directed by Tom McCarthy, co-written with Thomas Bidegain and Noé Debré, and based on the 2019 non-fiction book Losing Earth by Nathaniel Rich.
What's confirmed
- Tom McCarthy's 'A Statement' has garnered attention for its exploration of a 1980 climate conference, where experts convened to address the CO2 problem.
- The film, based on Nathaniel Rich's non-fiction book 'Losing Earth,' features a cast including John Turturro, Amy Ryan, and Jason Clarke.
- Deadline notes that the film's modest ambitions come at the right time to remind viewers of the shared humanity needed to tackle climate change.
- IndieWire observes that McCarthy's film, while talky, is a treatise on language's failure to convey meaning, especially in the context of climate change.
- The Hollywood Reporter praises McCarthy's methodical approach, highlighting the film's dynamic dialogue and strong performances.
- Variety points out that the film offers a glimpse into 1980, revealing how early the climate crisis was recognized.
- IndieWire's review notes that the film's lack of a definitive statement from the 1980 conference highlights the ongoing struggle to address climate change.
- Deadline's review concludes that despite its unconventional structure, 'A Statement' is oddly feel-good in its own peculiar way.
- The film's release comes at a time when climate change remains a polarizing political issue, with administrations like the current one withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement.
- The film's talky nature and focus on process and debate make it a compelling, if challenging, watch for those interested in climate change discussions.
What's still developing
- Viewed now this film’s simple truths and debate over these inconvenient truths take on an importance and realization that not only have we not made much progress after four and a half decades, but we are sailing backwards to oblivion.
- The dawning impact of climate change was just coming into view (a global climate conference preceded this one a year earlier), but it was a time well before it would become such a polarizing political issue pitting us against each other on an issue about which there should be no argument.
- Seeing it play out now 46 years later, it is a bit mind boggling to see how far we haven’t come under a President and current administration that twice has canceled us out of the Paris Climate Agreement and enthusiastically welcomed the return of fossil fuels, coal, no regulations, and free reign for corporate America.
- This is actually, oddly, a feel good movie in its own peculiar way.
- Beware: A Statement does not follow a familiar usual three act structure for a movie.
- David Rose ( John Turturro ) with a lot of definite opinions; Public Health scholar Anne Marie Crocetti ( Amy Ryan ) who doesn’t say much until she does; legal scholar from Commission on Air Quality Edith Brown Weiss (Tatiana Maslansky) who may not be board; and personable but skeptical staff member John Perry (Jason Clarke), all among many others we meet and hear from.
- To that end, McCarthy’s often snappy but stagelike seriocomedy blows a lot of hot air in its first half in a screenplay he wrote with Thomas Bidegain and Noé Debré.
- By now, we’re all so numbed out to climate change by the indifference of past administrations and the current one, which withdrew from the Paris Agreement (again) at the top of this year, that the hopelessness “A Statement” arrives at hardly feels shocking.
- Writer/director Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”) is a nimble maneuverer of stories mostly made up of talk, and where talk is often cheap, and where words fail to articulate historical truth despite humankind’s bravest, unrewarded efforts.
- His latest film, “ A Statement,” opens a pinhole into a true-life episode out of Nathaniel Rich’s nonfiction climate change history book “Losing Earth,” where a Congress-tasked ad hoc commission convened at the DonCesar beachfront resort to “solve” the CO2 problem.
- But rather than a piece of agitprop messaging disguised as cinema, “A Statement” is made richer for being a kind of talky treatise on language itself’s failure to convey meaning — or provide a stable architecture upon which a group of people can reach an agreement.
- It’s no surprise when a lone title card at the end of the film reveals that the 20 individuals who formed on October 30-31 — professors, researchers, lawyers, physicists, industry heads among them — never made a statement at all.