Hollywoodland

A film set in Los Angeles in 1959. George Reeves played Superman on television. One night he is found shot in the head at home and the police call it suicide. His mother does not believe it. She hires a detective. Simo is a small-time private investigator. His work is going badly, he is separated from his wife, he does not see his son, and he takes the case only to get himself into the papers. From there the film runs in two times. Simo's investigation, and Reeves's life in flashback. Reeves wanted to be an actor. He had a small part in Gone with the Wind and never rose further. Then Superman came. The part made him famous but nobody would accept him in anything else; the man cannot get out of his own costume. He has an affair. Toni is the wife of a studio executive and the relationship runs with everyone's knowledge. Then Reeves leaves and becomes engaged to a young woman. What the narrative is interested in is not murder but a career: the film does not solve how the death happened; what it really describes is a man who never got to do the work he wanted. The narrative shows three possibilities. Suicide, accident and murder; each is staged as a scene and the film chooses none. That choice is both its idea and its problem. Refusing to answer is honest but leaves the audience unsatisfied. Ben Affleck won best actor at Venice for the part. Adrien Brody, Diane Lane, Ben Affleck and Bob Hoskins are in the cast. Allen Coulter directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes stories of old Hollywood and a noir tone. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a resolution; the film deliberately stays inconclusive and the detective line is weak.