Trumbo
Directed by Jay Roach
- drama
The story
The career of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo is halted by a witch hunt in the late 1940s when he defies the anti-communist HUAC committee and is blacklisted.
What it’s like
Warm, period-soaked Hollywood drama: mid-century studio sets lit in amber and cigarette haze, lamp-glow kitchens, and the flat grey of courtroom and Washington corridors. Jay Roach keeps the camera fairly conventional, with plenty of medium two-shots and talky close-ups that let Bryan Cranston's restless, sardonic performance carry the scenes, while the typewriter clatter and jazzy period score give the film a brisk, crackling energy. The overall vibe is wry, bittersweet and principled, closer to a sharp comedy-drama than a grim thriller, and it suits an evening in with a drink, a rainy weekend afternoon, or a film-lover's double bill. Its arc follows a proud, quick-witted man who loses his livelihood and family stability and fights back with humour and stubbornness, while the people around him slowly test their loyalties. Intensity is low: there is no real violence or gore, some strong language and smoking, and the threat is social and emotional rather than physical. It is for viewers who enjoy backstage Hollywood stories, historical dramas about political pressure, and character-led films about craft and defiance.
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