Tribeca 2010: Alex Gibney's UNTITLED ELIOT SPITZER FILM

The hardest working man in documentary is back (and back and back and back) at the Tribeca Film Festival.  Oscar winner Alex Gibney brings his Sundance-premiered CASINO JACK AND THE UNITED STATES OF MONEY, a feature version of Lawrence Wright's one-man show MY TRIP TO AL-QAEDA, as well as his slice of the closing night, omnibus documentary FREAKONOMICS.  So much Gibney was on display that Tribeca Fest co-founder Jane Rosenthal reportedly introduced the filmmaker by saying that they were remaining the event "the Alex Gibney Film Festival".

But even with several finished works on display, it was a 4th screening - the work-in-progress showing of his forthcoming documentary about disgraced former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer that had the New York doc community talking this weekend.

Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Michelle Kung provides the background for the unusual WIP screening of such a major work:

"Comprised of interviews with finance types, individuals involved in the escort business, as well as Spitzer himself, Gibney’s film traces the former New York Governor’s career from his start as an attorney general determined to take down corruption on Wall Street, to his status as a political joke after he was forced to resign for patronizing the Emperor’s Club VIP escort service. But, without giving too much away because the film isn’t yet finished, the documentary is more than just an expose of Spitzer’s sex scandal; Gibney also raises numerous questions about the incidents leading up the government’s investigation of Spitzer’s crime."

At Hollywood Elsewhere, Jeffrey Wells raved "this movie is going right into my list as one of the best films of 2010":

"What a dirty, stinking story this is -- a balding oddball hero with the right ideals and goals brought down by a fatal flaw, but whose public exposure and ruin is orchestrated by his powerful enemies, and not just any enemies but some of the same financially speculating, double-dealing Wall Street scumbags whose actions brought this country to the brink of financial ruin. Goodness falls, evil triumphs -- great movie material!

It is always the mark of a top-notch film when you think you know what it's going to do plot-wise, and it more or less does that in terms of what it "tells" but with so much more punch and pizazz and intrigue than you expected. And you come out of it going "wow, damn good!""

Edward Douglas at ComingSoon says the film is "certainly a very different movie for Gibney, done in a very different style than (CASINO JACK)":

"The film essentially tells two stories at the same time, the first being Spitzer's rise through the political world as New York's tough attorney general, making enemies on Wall Street and then in Albany once he became governor. The second story is somewhat more lurid, delving into the world of high-priced escorts and the clients who use them, the film essentially jumping back and forth until the third act when the two worlds finally collide...

From what we saw, Gibney certainly has a strong foundation for another great doc, although the movie certainly can be tightened and shortened to be more effective at keeping the audience's interest during some of the duller moments involving Spitzer's Wall Street cases. It didn't really feel like the movie needed to spend as much time on them to make its point, and in general, the interview with Spitzer and the film's look into the world of escorts are the main draws."

Movieline's S.T. Vanairsdale says that, "as with most of Gibney’s work, (this) will go down as the definitive nonfiction-film account of its subject":

"Spitzer gave four separate interviews to the director (“In the last two, he changed his suit, which was especially irksome” Gibney said. “But we always made him wear the same tie.”), and while the details of his downfall won’t blow the minds of most political wonks or even casual, tabloid-reading New Yorkers, its dense, dramatic intrigue should hold the attention spans of general audiences who know Spitzer as little more than a hooker-patronizing late-night punchline."

NY Magazine's Logan Hill calls the film "a ricocheting, lowbrow-to-highbrow recap, veering from tabloid headlines and prostitute interviews to lofty campaign ads and reflections on the economic crisis".  More from Christopher Campbell at Cinematical and John Anderson has an interview and profile of Gibney in the NY Times.

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[Ben Nguyen]

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