Morgan Henley
OPENS: JUNE 17
RUNNING TIME: 96 MINUTES
RATED: R
VENUE: SUN-RAY CINEMA
Today, there is no shortage of media coverage of the incredulousness of modern day American politicians. Nearly getting as much attention as the gossip of Hollywood, the coverage of Washington’s playmakers is pervasive. TV, social media, newspapers, magazines, and sometimes even the movies. Which brings us to Weiner. The documentary about one of the wildest American politicians with both a name and a story you surely haven’t already forgotten.
Weiner is a documentary following the life of former US Congressman Anthony Weiner from his rise in popularity in the Democratic Party as a Representative of New York in 2011 to his failed comeback in the New York City mayoral campaign of 2013. Despite that the story of what happened in between these two points is already infamous (the sexting, the dickpic, Carlos Danger…), this film is still incredibly hilarious and captivating. Incredibly thrilling, its . Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary from Sundances was well deserved.
Seemingly nothing was off limits for the documentarians, which is what makes the film truly fascinating. Tough talks with his campaign staff, embarrassing gaffes in public, and even incredibly awkward conversations with his wife, are all unapologetically a part of the film. Yet instead of feeling invasive, the cameras being there to catch all of these too-good-to-be-true moments, it feels natural. Of course a politician whose private life American already saw spiral out of control before our own eyes once, would allow this all be captured again. The casualness with which he takes having his intimacies captured is startling, and trying to understand why is one of the joys of the film.
Yet, this film is not just another rehashing of the story we already know. Instead of just sensationalizing the already incredibly sensational Weiner story, it captures something else. We see Anthony Weiner as an actual person, a real glimpse of the humanity of this befallen man. It serves as a reminder that despite the Instagram accounts and Late Night TV show appearances, we still rarely get to see politicians as actual humans, with flaws, bad days.
This year’s Presidential election cycle has caused many new debates about how we expect politicians to present themselves before the public. How ‘real’ and ‘uncensored’ they should be. This film probably isn’t going to help us answer that debate, but rather the opposite.
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