Excellent Biography

Chaplin is a biography of screen legend Charlie Chaplin, one of the cinematic pioneers of the silent comedy. As played brilliantly by Robert Downey Jr., this is a movie that looks at Chaplin's lifestyle: his marriages, his work ethic, his family life, and the impact he left on cinema. He was obsessive, he was caring, and he was charming. When he walked into a room, he could light it up with his mere presence and everyone would welcome him. At least that's what this film implies.

What's great about Chaplin, is that it doesn't portray him in a scandalous manner as a human being. He didn't become obsessed with hard living or partying. He did bed quite a few women, and he ultimately did marry them. But it was in his desire to simply have a family life, a good one which he never had when he was a child. As told to a fictional biographer (Anthony Hopkins), Chaplin recounts his life from starting out in vaudeville as a toddler, to eventually rising as the king of comedy, to his ongoing battles with J. Edgar Hoover, to his inevitable outcast from the United States (he never applied for citizenship), which was exploited by lawmakers intent on doing away with him. The movie profiles much of Chaplin's life as well as it can, and the results are impressive.

Despite his trouble with the law, Robert Downey Jr. is a truly good actor. His embodiment of Chaplin is humane, sincere, and ultimately flawed. This is to say if Chaplin was a genuinely nice man, far ahead of his contemporaries (which the movie certainly implies) who wanted to make movies the way he could. It was said that Chaplin took days to shoot a film until he had a brilliant idea. Of course, that could never happen in these times, but this was the Golden Age of Hollywood when he had total control of his movies from acting and directing, right down to scoring them. Looking at Downey Jr.'s restraint is what can convincingly turn Chaplin into a story character, as opposed to a real life figure. Downey makes him a sensible, confident man who is occasionally stubborn, but loyal as can be. It's hard to really describe his performance, but it seems like the actor is immersed in Chaplin's life. He's a kindhearted gentleman who never outcast anybody from his life, unless they deserved it, because he was a human being. The way he waves at a child with a friendly smile, implicates his humanity when he's in a crucial courtroom scene. As said, Downey is really committed to playing Chaplin and it shows here.

The cast in Chaplin itself is really good, if not sprawling. From the likes of screen legend Douglas Fairbanks (Kevin Kline), to Hoover (A very nasty Kevin Dunn), and many other people whom Chaplin encountered. None of the actors steal a scene from Downey, nor does he, because it's almost like historical preservation in the way he achieve a scene's objective. For instance, Chaplin speaks with his boss, director Mack Sennett (Dan Aykroyd), and the way the two interact seems to match perfectly. The brash, slightly obnoxious Sennett curses and spits chewing tobacco, which Chaplin points out that Sennett missed one spit take while negotiating. Every actor is very much into the role and none of them shy away from giving to the role. Kevin Kline's Fairbanks isn't over the top as the dashing playboy, whom Chaplin describes as a man men wanted to be, and women wanted to be with. Fairbanks is the confidant to Chaplin, almost a Yoda-like figure who dispenses wise advice to Chaplin that he never takes. "It's a good country underneath." Chaplin says in reference to the United States, which Fairbanks prophetically says it's underneath that's worse. Moira Kelly, Paul Rhys, Diane Lane, Milla Jovovich, Anthony Hopkins, Penelope Ann Miller, Marisa Tomei, Nancy Travis, James Woods, David Duchovny, Aykroyd, and Dunn make up the rest of the cast and they all turn in first rate performances. A special mention is to Geraldine Chaplin, as Charlie's mentally unstable mother. Watching her break down in front of her son is a harrowing sight, but what's ironic is that Geraldine is portraying her grandmother. Chaplin's character is delusional and sympathetic, a woman who lost her way to the good life and never recovered. But the scenes between her and Charlie are somewhat heartbreaking, when you realize that their bond as mother and son will never be the same after her breakdown. Another special mention is Kevin Dunn as Hoover, whose his own force of nature. The movie starts early with how the conflict between the two lead to Charlie's citizen undoing. It indicates that Hoover was a particular driving force behind troubling Charlie. Of course, in reality there were probably more substantial enemies that Hoover developed, but he is portrayed as a man with only one enemy: Charlie. Dunn makes him a master of chasing after every loose ball, with the sole intent of doing what he could to ruin Chaplin by use of the law.

What's interesting about Chaplin is that every detail whether from production design right down to the costuming is impeccable. As this is a portrayal of Hollywood in the twenties to the fifties, it brings with it a look of authenticity. The way Mack Sennett, a workhorse director rallies his crew for another shot like a commander, is priceless in how he acts on the studio lot. The lot itself is portrayed as a vast, barebones area in it's early stages, that's one of the notable productions of the film that I really enjoyed. In this production, there's a comical sequence featuring Chaplin originate the Little Tramp. Director Richard Attenborough and the production team have crafted some beautiful scenery through the costumes, mansions, sets, trains, restaurants, and endless areas in the movie that never cease to impress. The design itself is very well thought out.

Given that the movie is a biography, it tries to put as much information as it can. For this movie, it looks at Chaplin's quick rise to becoming a prominent director and actor, and does talk about his personal life. The attempts to save his first movie from the grips of his bitter wife's hands from butchering. How he found himself in friction with those he loved such as his wives (whom he neglected for his art), to his brother (an excellent Paul Rhys). The story gives a human voice to Chaplin, but doesn't explain what drove him to making a good film. For what it's worth, you do see the man intensely devoted to making his feature film, which is expected for the viewer to interpret, but it doesn't provide a clear outline of what made him so driven. Midway through the film, Charlie's former wife, actress Paulette Goddard (Diane Lane) kisses a co-worker right in front of him, which he's only blind to as he's sitting at the piano composing his film. There are scenes like this that showcase his devotion to being a director, but doesn't explain why he set out to make such great films, only that he was ambitious enough to be a perfectionist.

The humane part of Charlie Chaplin, is that he was a man who could never resist making a child smile. The way a frown develops on his face when he has to send his children back to his ex-wife after spending time. How a paternity suit in court, features Chaplin waving to the subject in question, a baby girl with her smiling eyes focusing on Charlie. The character's conflict is a man who tried to hold onto his personal life with his professional life, which frequently clashed. It was the clash that ended his marriages, erupted his bitter feud with Edgar Hoover, and showcased his start in cinema, and how he established a legacy. Throughout the film, as Chaplin reflects back on his life, a few substantial parts are cut into brief montages for time's sake (with the film running nearly 2.5 hours), that give enough information for Chaplin's life. They cover his marriages but while some are more thought out and focused with scenes, some are actually reduced to montages that give just enough information. For example, Charlie's puppy dog romance with one woman while making The Gold Rush, is a particularly strong example of this.

In my opinion, I think Chaplin is an excellent biography that is entertaining in itself, given by a great performance by Downey Jr. and the rest of the cast. It pulls away the curtain on Chaplin's life to present him. Not to mention a strong script and good direction by Richard Attenborough. While the film may not win all the hearts of Chaplin fans, as it's more a biographical story than a biography, it creates a man with a lasting influence on cinema, and what created his inner demons and personal tragedies. But it doesn't exploit them to make an unflattering portrait of a man, but to simply present him as a human being as complicated by his life, as was his love for cinema.