Checked out the movie The Current War (The Director’s Cut) over the weekend. It’s odd to have a new release called “Director’s Cut” when it has never been released before. But therein likes a murky story. The film was first shown in 2017 at film fests where it got mediocre reviews. And it was produced by the Weinstein company… so between Harvey Weinstein Harvey Weinsteining around town and those reviews, it was shelved. The original director got his hands on the film and found that Harvey had edited it from his original vision so, over time, he was able to A) re-edit it the way he wanted, B) film new scenes, and C) excise the name Weinstein from the flick. Was the effort worth it? Well, kind of.
The Current War is the story of Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse’s rivalry over the light bulb and, more to the point, the electrical delivery system needed to wire-up America. Edison favored Direct Current since it was safer and since he’d already invested a lot of money into it. Westinghouse wanted Alternating Current because you didn’t need as many stations, it was cheaper, and more efficient. Edison’s response was that AC was dangerous and could kill (which it could) so the two fought in the press and in business over the issue.
This is a pretty smart movie about very smart people inventing things, doing business, and compromising their principles. Whether that’s a topic that interests you at all will tell whether you want to see the movie. It’s also a movie intended for people who kind of already know the real history because it has no interest in babysitting. It’s kind of distracting how the movie hops from event to event, not really filling in back story or details that the uninformed would likely need. I knew most of the story so I was able to keep up.
in addition to the abrupt storytelling, the film feels like the director and/or editor had just discovered how to make cool looking movies. Some of the camera work, angles, and shot compositions are creative and artistic but done to distraction. They start calling attention to themselves as if the people behind the camera didn’t have faith in their story. This isn’t a deal-breaker but it is distracting, especially in the first half of the movie.
I enjoyed this movie almost as the movie tried to distract me and under-educate me about the real history. It’s certainly well acted and has some brilliant moments and inspiring dialog. That is, in between the two titans of industry back-stabbing each other and compromising their morals. But it is a true story and that’s interesting itself.
Score: 84