The Good, The Bad and The Critic

Established on March 19th, 2012 and pioneered by film fanatic Michael J. Carlisle. The Good, The Bad and The Critic will analyze classic and contemporary films from all corners of the globe. This title references Sergei Leone's influential spaghetti western The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

I Did Not Have Sexual Relations With That Woman Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: I Did Not Have Sexual 
Relations with that Woman
Year: 2007
Director: Bill Clinton
Country: US
Language: English

 William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was born August 19, 1946. He is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States of America. He is arguably the best President of the last 20 years, yet is unfortunately still the butt of many late night talk show jokes. "Clinton couldn't keep it in his pants," they say. After his presidency Clinton became a documentary filmmaker to prove his critics wrong. This is a review of his debut film I Did Not Have Sexual Relations With that Woman.

Clinton's documentary traces the Lewinsky sex scandal from its origins in 1995, when Monica Lewinsky was hired to work as an intern in the White house, to his impeachment in 1998. With newly discovered security and archival footage Clinton makes his case that he did not have sexual relations with that woman.

Cinephiles either like Clinton or find his films pretentious. There is no middle ground, save for I Did Not Have Sexual Relations with that Woman. The film is the most accessible, even to the most stubborn Clinton-hater. It's a mixture of the president's minimalist style and his character's resilience that makes the film so appealing. In later films, characters would become more and more dissociated, leading to the chaos that would ensue in Clinton's final film The President's Husband AKA The Last Gentleman, but in I Did Not Have Sexual Relations with that Woman Clinton is the most relatable character in Clinton's filmography.

 You can't help but cheer for his endeavor (and in some cases, you may even tear up at the final outcome). Clinton is a master of cinematography, even when his film consists of only archival footage and talking head interviews. The people he chooses to question are astounding; he butts heads with George Bush, Janet Jackson, Marlon Brando, Vincent Price and Salman Rushdie. You would think that scoring the film with Beethoven's 9th symphony is a little much, but it works to his advantage.

In conclusion, if you are going to watch any Bill Clinton film see I Did Not Have Sexual Relations With That Woman. Though he is admittedly very bias, his story is engaging and heartbreaking. Your mind, and your life, will completely change after viewing his groundbreaking debut feature. Praise it! 5/5

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