Hopefully by now, you know I won’t steer you wrong. So trust me when I say, Worth is not only a superbly written film, it raises Michael Keaton to the Jimmy Stewart and Tom Hanks echelon.
I’m from Upstate New York, but because I was a Guidance Counselor when 9/11 occurred, my job that day became corralling the teachers who were native Manhattanites into a private room to spare kids from second hand trauma. That’s right, back in 2001, adults protected kids from anxiety rather than making them contemporaries before they are mentally and emotionally capable of handling it. (That’s a fresh rant since today it was announced that school kids will get a free 5 mental health days off since adults have done such a poor job of having a game face or perhaps there eyes which is all kids can see these days portray their constant ill conceived fear). But I digress…
Worth examines the real life pair of lawyers who took on the monumental task (pro bono) of deciding what each family would get from their loved one(s) death caused by 9/11 events.
Lesser screen writers would have botched this and turned the movie into a courtroom snoozer, but Max Borenstein should get a nomination for this. Hands. Down. Compiling the multitude of stories and cherry picking a few complex ones to highlight, again is the work of genius. Don’t overload your audience with two much story, let the moments and the emotions shine in the film.
And boy do they! Michael Keaton (AGAIN) should win something for this. Amy Ryan is also terrific as his legal partner. Stanley Tucci and Shunori Ramanathan are also gorgeous in their portrayals as widower and near miss victim respectively. available only on Netflix (don’t get me started about the schlock in theaters now when this should be front and center). Let us pray that on the 20th anniversary, we get back to problem solving and united and not this petty twitter age bickering.
Worth: Michael Keaton’s penultimate performance
