I haven’t liked a Steven Spielberg movie in decades. There are several reasons: first his need to telegraph emotion with the same John Williams score over and over again, his use of camera moves that seem forced upon the narrative, lack of character nuance and detail (Saving Private Ryan comes to mind), and visual cues that makes you feel like you’re stupid (the girl in the red dress in Schindler’s List, which was the only colored shot in an otherwise all black and white movie). In fact, his last film, War Horse, was such an affront to the material I nearly walked out.
But LINCOLN is something else altogether. Whether it was Tony Kushner’s literate screenplay, Daniel Day Lewis’ extraordinarily quiet and introspective performance, or the subject matter’s need for a quiet camera, Mr. Spielberg, for once, keeps the camera still and lets the viewer choose where…
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