Clint Eastwood is Hollywood’s most prolific octogenarian director. In the last few years, he did films like “Unforgiven”, “Mystic River”, “Letters from Iwo Jima”, “Flag of Our Fathers”, “Changeling”, “Million Dollar Baby”, “Gran Torino” and “Invictus”. He now directs this filmbio staring Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role. The movie touches Hoover’s encounters with outlaws of the 20s and 30s, his investigation of the kidnapping of the baby of Charles Lindbergh, shown in flashbacks as he narrates them his official biographer.
His last years show him using his so called secret files to blackmail the Kennedys and his hatred for Martin Luther King. The movie also touches on his homosexuality and his relationship with his longtime companion, his deputy Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer of “Social Network”). Its highlight is their LQ (lovers quarrel) after the closeted Hoover said he plans to marry actress Dorothy Lamour for camouflage, making his lover go berserk and with him later begging Clyde not to leave him.
It’s shown that he’s decision not to come out is largely influenced by his religious mom (Judi Dench) who told him she’d rather have a dead child than one of who’s a daffodil (meaning gay). In one scene, he’s shown cross-dressing wearing his late mom’s dress. The life story of J. Edgar is obviously very colorful but the way it’s presented by Director Clint Eastwood on screen makes it dull and dragging. What saves the movie and holds it together is the powerful performance of DiCaprio in the title role. His acting here is definitely even better than his portrayal of Howard Hughes in “The Aviator”, but he got nominated in the Oscars for that and was bypassed here. How sad for him. He gets adequate support from Hammer as his lover and Naomi Watts as his loyal secretary who grew old with him, Helen Gandy.
Also to be commended is the splendid period period design and the believable aging makeup used as the characters get older. The non-chronological structure of telling J. Edgar’s story with flashbacks within flashbacks will also confuse a lot of local viewers. It fails to make the viewer have a more emotional connection with the lead character and the result is quite a competent but uninspired biopic that’s told without much heart or passion.
