Move over James Bond, there’s a new espionage spy and he’s for real! Based on a true story, Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) is a CIA operative who looks like a long lost Gibb brother with his shaggy thick hair and beard. The film is set in 1979 in a time of the Iranian hostage crisis, that in retrospect, almost served as things to come. We focus on six American officials who have been taking refuge in a Canadian Ambassador’s home but need a safe way to exit the country. Brian Cranston plays Mendez’s CIA boss.
Enter Alan Arkin and John Goodman, as a Hollywood producer and make-up artist that Mendez contacts in order that they can pretend to be
making a film called “ARGO”- with a ridiculous sci-fi plot whose name is based on the planet it is meant to be set. The plan is to make a really bad movie seem real, and pretend the six officials are on the production team, in order to escort them peacefully out of Iran after “Scouting movie locations.” If the story weren’t based on actual events you’d think it’s preposterous, but it’s so well shot, and so 70s style, you begin to think it’s a masterpiece. The yellow ribbon around the old oak tree, the newscaster Tom Brokaw reporting in. And then the film feels a bit like Oceans 11 with the humor of Goodman and Arkin, and the scheme they have planned. Sometimes we feel guilty for chuckling at a serious matter, but the one thing that is serious and should finally be taken seriously is Ben Affleck’s ability to direct. If The Town and Gone Baby Gone didn’t earn him notice this will. We won’t even address that he should have been recognized years ago for his brilliance in Hollywoodland.
This type of film doesn’t translate to popcorn mainstream but it’s guaranteed to translate to a gold Oscar for best directing. Four tiaras