On paper, director Tom McCarthy‘s latest film, A Statement might appear to be a dense polemic, hardly the stuff of exciting moviemaking. It centers on a 1980 Florida conference dealing with the effects of Carbon Dioxide emissions on the environment, gathering politicians, academics, scientists and environmentalists from around the U.S. to talk about the subject for four sessions over two days, and tasked with coming up with an agreed-upon statement on how to deal with the problem. The screenplay is largely taken from actual transcripts of the meeting, and is an adaptation by McCarthy and his co-writers Thomas Bidegan and Noé Debré of the Nathaniel Rich book, “Losing Earth: A Recent History”. Ready to line up for this one, folks?
Even though the density of the subject matter made my eyelids droop Trump-style a bit in the beginning, I have to say just trust in McCarthy whose very urgent Spotlight won the 2015 Best Picture Oscar and whose filmography includes such rich character studies as Win Win, The Station Agent, and The Visitor. His movies are all about people, and so, not surprisingly, is this one. Although this is all largely set around a large table in the St. Pete Beach Ce Sar Hotel conference room, and deals with a lot of dialogue around various conceits that might sail over your head, thanks to a smart approach to the basic material and the outstanding cast of wonderful actors hired to bring it to life, this becomes anything but a polemic. It is an entertaining, sly, humorous, enlightening, and even moving story of an effort by a group of mere human beings trying to come together for the good of the planet and deliver a simple statement on how to save us from ourselves. It is a quirky and unexpected period piece about a time when we weren’t so divided that it could be possible to have a civil discourse, even on a hot button topic. Ah, the good old days.
Taking place in late October of 1980, just days before Ronald Reagan would defeat Jimmy Carter to become President, the timing of this conference in retrospect was crucial. The dawning impact of climate change was just coming into view (a global climate conference preceded this one a year earlier), but it was a time well before it would become such a polarizing political issue pitting us against each other on an issue about which there should be no argument. Seeing it play out now 46 years later, it is a bit mind boggling to see how far we haven’t come under a President and current administration that twice has canceled us out of the Paris Climate Agreement and enthusiastically welcomed the return of fossil fuels, coal, no regulations, and free reign for corporate America. Viewed now this film’s simple truths and debate over these inconvenient truths take on an importance and realization that not only have we not made much progress after four and a half decades, but we are sailing backwards to oblivion. If that sounds depressing, think again. A Statement, with its modest ambitions, comes just at the right time to remind us that no matter how divided we can be, we do share a common humanity – or once did – that hopefully can make a difference. The actual end result of this conference may not have been encouraging at the time, but by focusing on the people and disparate personalities who at least tried to come together in a room with potato salad and cold coffee we get the feeling all is not lost – even now when it all seems so dire. Guess I am an eternal optimist. I have to be. This is actually, oddly, a feel good movie in its own peculiar way.
Beware: A Statement does not follow a familiar usual three act structure for a movie. It all takes place at this hotel, where there is also a wedding going on that will figure delightfully as the weekend progresses, but basically the participants enter the room, introduce themselves, and start talking serious issues, no back stories on any of them. The Master Of Ceremonies here is ever confident Tom Jorling (Paul Rudd), assisted by atmospheric science expert Robert Cunningham (Noah Robbins) in keeping it all on track and power- pointing all the ideas that come up. Among the most prominently focused on here are an engaged activist with Friends Of The Earth, Rafe Pomerance (Evan Peters); Department Of Energy Carbon expert Dr. David Slade (Paul Giamatti) who may be out of a job after the election; a didactic M.I.T. Nuclear Engineer Dr. David Rose (John Turturro) with a lot of definite opinions; Public Health scholar Anne Marie Crocetti (Amy Ryan) who doesn’t say much until she does; legal scholar from Commission on Air Quality Edith Brown Weiss (Tatiana Maslany) who may not be board; and personable but skeptical staff member John Perry (Jason Clarke), all among many others we meet and hear from.
Somehow, with major help from ace cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh, McCarthy keeps this all on track as a movie, a story of us, a group of unique personalities, strangers who come together with one purpose but also, in the end, show us we are, first and foremost more alike than not. A Statement is truly cinematic, even if the bones of it looks like it could have been a play. Reminiscent in some ways of Sidney Lumet’s landmark first feature, 12 Angry Men, McCarthy finds an exciting way to shoot this tight room without ever being rote. Although using the actual transcript can be challenging the filmmaker has found a clever way in as a human experience, and when you have actors on the level of Rudd, Giamatti, Turturro, Ryan, and on and on delivering the text we are in good hands.
McCarthy and his writers also smartly take us out of the conference room at the end of day one and invent interactions between the group into the night that also lets us get to personally know some of these people who likely will not see each other again. A lot of it is quite amusing. Who knew the M.I.T. guy Turturro plays could also be a hell of a wedding party crasher, or that the terrific scene-stealing Robbins’ atmospheric science expert Rob would hook up, so to speak, with the older stenographer Bernadette (played by the magnificent Nina Arianda). Their budding connection is ultimately quite a touching one. Ryan’s character is a largely quiet participant given a come-to-jesus moment toward the end that rivals Atticus Finch. Maslany delivers the tough love from her character with deep conviction that keeps us riveted. The can-do-no-wrong Giamatti scores again here as the Energy Department veteran who has been to 300 of these types of conferences and has another lined up in December, just par for the course for a dedicated public servant hoping to make a difference in his – and our – humdrum life.
You get the feeling everyone in this room hopes to make a difference, and what they each have to say should be heard, but it is, in the end, the human comedy McCarthy untangles in bringing all of them together for a single collective goal that makes A Statement such a rewarding and heartfelt experience. I wanted to spend more time with this bunch, i was sorry to see them all go off to their own lives somewhere, maybe with a bit more knowledge that the mission that brought them to this Florida beach hotel conference room is one still worth pursuing.
Interestingly on the same weekend Alejandro G. Inarritu’s Digger opens, a divisive satire with a sober message about the devastating costs of ignoring the climate crisis, that film feels, to use earthquake terminology, like an aftershock to a calamity for the human race who stuck their heads in the sand and ignored the warnings. A Statement, very different in tone and attitude, and taking place right at the beginning when something could still be done, is the foreshock. Attention must be paid.
A Statement had its World Premiere today at the New York Film Festival and will be released in 2027. It is a gem. Producers are Jonathan King, David Levine, Jim Whitaker, Rae Baron, McCarthy, Jonathan Schwartz, Nick Shumaker, Bard Dorros and Mary Aloe.
Title: A Statement
Festival: New York Film Festival
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Director: Tom McCarthy
Screenplay: Thomas Bidegan, Noé Debré and McCarthy
Cast: Paul Rudd, Evan Peters, Amy Ryan, Paul Giamatti, John Turturro, Tatiana Maslany, Jason Clarke, Noah Robbins, Zach Woods, Nina Arianda, Mary Catherine Garrison, Michael Chernus, Tom McPherson, Dylan Baker, Michael Cerveris, Alan Eisenberg, Christopher Denham, Adrian Martinez.
Running Time: 1 hour and 44 minutes