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Whether or not the disgraced politician practicing lines behind the lectern is actually contrite is almost beside the point. His name is Anthony Weiner, and he's been busted for dick pics (again). Weiner shifts his posture and raises his chin, imagining how all this will look at the upcoming press conference. "And for that, I am profoundly sorry," he says over and over, trying to affect the perfect tone of sincerity.
He knows how important it is to get the optics right.
Weaving together clips from cable news shows, YouTube videos, and footage filmed onsite at crucial moments, the new documentary Weiner shows the rise and eventual implosion of Weiner's 2013 campaign for mayor of New York City.
It's the unprecedented level of access to the subject that makes Weiner a necessary and unflinching look at how the sausage of modern politics gets made. During a moment when he has just learned of a second wave of allegations about his digital infidelities, Weiner asks his closest advisers (but not the cameraman) to leave the room so he can talk to his wife, Huma Abedin. Viewed from across the blank, newly rented office, as if from a crouch in the corner, we see a marriage go into nuclear meltdown. It's tense and awkward, but the weirdest part is that Weiner would allow the moment to be caught on film.
Directors Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg warn us, lest we grow sanctimonious, that Weiner is just one member of a political ecosystem that rewards spectacle over real news. (A Google search of "Donald Trump" yields about 250 million results.)
"Of course, the media played a role, Anthony played a role, and we as consumers, we all played a role," Steinberg says.
So how has the man known for his contentious relationship with the press reacted to this honest and spin-free evaluation of his career? "We offered for him to see it a couple times many months ago, and he's not wanted to see it yet," Kriegman said in an interview with MSNBC.
You can believe that Weiner has ignored the film and will remain silent if you want. Or, like many of us, you can wait for him (or Trump, or whoever comes along next) to step up to the lectern, fix a prodigious stare at the camera, and give us tomorrow's headline.
Critic's Grade: A
see it: Weiner is rated R. It opens Friday at Cinema 21.
Willamette Week