While the film Christine has its inconsistencies, Rebecca Hall delivers an electrifyingly good performance as the title character.
No, this isn’t a remake of the John Carpenter film with a killer car. This is about Christine Chubbuck, the infamous news reporter who shot herself on live television in the 1970s.
Hall depicts Chubbuck as bright but, obviously, troubled. Doing small feature stories on a Florida TV station and looking to move ahead, her ideas are a little too out there for her station manager, Michael (the incomparable Tracy Letts). On top of that, she’s trying to date station anchor George (Michael C. Hall) with little success.
While director Antonio Campos’ film feels a little flat, the two Halls and Letts usually breathe life back into it.
Rebecca Hall would probably have gotten serious Oscar buzz if the film felt fully realized rather than moderately good. It’s worth seeing for Hall, Hall and Letts, but it fails to crack into the elite of last year’s movies.
Christine is available via online sources including iTunes and Amazon.com.