Directed by Nick Murphy, this is a genuinely creepy thriller that follows the first rule of horror: what you don’t see is scarier than what you do see.
Imelda Staunton is excellent as a member of staff at the school, while Dominic West is pretty good as one of the teachers who becomes romantically involved with Cathcart.
On the down side, too much happens in the last 10 minutes, so the ending does seem a little rushed. And the deliberately ambiguous ending may frustrate.
The film focuses on the relationship between the two men, who undertake a sort of psychological boxing match as Frost tries to get Nixon to acknowledge his wrong-doing and law-breaking during the events that famously became known as Watergate.
It has character and depth, with both men emerging as more complex figures than they first appear to be.
One major anachronism is a character using the phrase “comfort zone”, which – according to the internet, was not coined until 2009.
The only other flaw is that Frost’s girlfriend (played by Rebecca Hall) has very little to do. But maybe that’s intended as a comment on gender roles in what was clearly still meant to be a men’s world.
It’s a tense and exciting thriller that keeps you guessing. Can Doug escape his past and his criminal associations to run off with the woman he loves? Or is he destined never to leave Charlestown except by following his father into prison?
Cleverly, it gets you to empathise with Doug rather than with the FBI agent investigating him (Jon Hamm). And the romantic story is all the more affecting because you know it’s doomed. The only criticism is that Affleck looks too healthy and well-presented to be as desperate as his character is supposed to be.
