Shadows on the Wall

Ink

dir Danny Boyle
scr James Graham
prd Danny Boyle, Tessa Ross, Michael Ellenberg, Tracey Seaward
with Jack O'Connell, Guy Pearce, Claire Foy, Brian Gleeson, Patrick Kennedy, Blake Harrison, Christopher Fulford, Bertie Carvel, Jonathan Hyde, Lucy Russell, Angus Imrie, Georgie Henley
release UK 8.Jan.27
26/UK StudioCanal 1h56

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James Graham adapts his stage play for the screen, and it then becomes an explosion of imagery and sound by director Danny Boyle. It's the story of how tabloid reporting expanded in 1969 Britain, recounted with close-up camerawork, energetic cutaways and journalistic angst. At times, style drowns out substance, but there's also a sense of urgency as we see how news reporting got to where it is today.

In 1969 London, Australian Rupert Maxwell (Pearce) buys a failing newspaper, The Sun, and hires Larry Lamb (O'Connell) to reimagine it as brash, new and fun. He poaches pals from the competition, including features editor Joyce (Foy), newsman Brian (Gleeson), deputy editor Bernard (Kennedy) and subeditor Ray (Harrison). And by pushing boundaries around reporting scandal and gossip, the paper's sales take off. Rupert thinks Larry takes his reporting too far when the wife (Russell) of his deputy (Hyde) is kidnapped. And then especially when Larry introduces Page 3 girls, even though the readers love them.

Raucous events punctuate the film, including an outrageous awards dinner and an over-the-top Christmas party, plus continual confrontations about the nature of journalism. The key question is which rules can be bent, which should be crushed and whether this sensational material is helping or hurting the world. Certainly, The Sun's success propelled Murdoch into other media, replicating the tabloid model with Fox News.

Performances are solid, although the whiz-bang production style prevents us from getting very close. O'Connell's Larry is talented and determined to break the mould, but he only seems to be motivated by the sales figures he uses to dispel Rupert's harshest critiques. Pearce gives a thankfully straightforward turn as Rupert, neither a hero nor villain in this story, but ultimately responsible for slipping standards globally, rejecting integrity to create a craving for salacious news that plays into fears and darker feelings.

There are moments in this film that tap into the principles of journalism, although Boyle's impatient storytelling doesn't quite let the points land. Even so, there's a glimpse at how things have shifted from the late 1960s up to the early 1980s, when Murdoch lurched to the political right wing, plus a blindingly quick-fire montage to the present day. There's definitely a case for reinventing, brainstorming, challenging rules and moving forward. But playing to the lowest common denominator won't actually end well for anyone but the bankers.

themes, language, violence 3.Sep.26 vff

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