Possibly Soon at the Cinema or possibly on Apple TV - From New Zealand - David Hare recommends DEAD MAN'S WIRE (Gus van Sant, USA, 2025)

Al Pacino

Three actors on a telephone hammering out life and death: Al Pacino, Bill Skarsgard and Dacre Montgomery from Gus van Sant's new picture, Dead Mans Wire, based on the real-life kidnap and holdup of a loan shark’s son by Tony Kiritsis in Indianapolis 1977. Lumet's justly famous 1975 movie Dog Day Afternoon seems to also forecast the same mode d'emploie by the real-life Indiana kidnapper two years' later which is the basis for Gus' movie. 

Bill Skarsgard

Without wishing to stretch too far into the winds of metacinematic narrative with history, the reprisal of Pacino in this superb new movie makes it impossible to miss a now totally alienated America in the thrall of late era Death-cult Capitalist greed and mindless International land-grab wars. Gus really gets the era and tone just as firmly as he gets the past with all his humanity at his disposal to make us care about these people. A lot. 

It's a real joy to see Gus out again in a picture that's entirely cut to his cloth with all the illustrious tics of his own style and mise-en-scene in play. Sequences of highly agitated long take shouting-out drama within four walls and a telephone start to give way to moments of apparent serenity before the next storm in Austin Kolodney's terrific screenplay. Just as "Kiritsis"/Skarsgard seems to catch each small concession in his baroquely insane negotiations with the FBI and Police to reach apparent short term agreements, Gus pumps a key music track each time into the audio to create an orgasm-like hold-still meditation on all-these too-brief moments of satisfaction. The score is a vibrant '70's hip compendium knockout curated by Danny Elfman. 

 

Dacre Montgomery

The picture had not yet had a general release in this territory since its debut at Venice last year until this January. May the gods of success attend to this terrific movie penned so movingly and richly by a real movie hero of mine so long absent since his last great work.