First time rewatching this since the 90s and first time with the Director’s Cut (via the new 4K box set release by Shout Factory). 

This movie occupies such a complicated space in my mind. It always has. It’s a difficult film to grapple with because of the various approaches and thought exercises that inherently come with its very existence. 

The film is incredibly made. Kevin Costner delivers such a terrific performance as Jim Garrison. His conviction, his confusion. His dialogue is so wonderfully written. The whole courtroom sequence at the end of the film is just Oscar moment after Oscar moment from him. Sidestep: I did not remember the moment where Costner breaks the fourth wall during his final statement. What a powerful moment as a whole but that fourth wall break really hit me in the gut. 
The direction by Oliver Stone is superb. The way he has chosen to sculpt the film is maximized for impact. It’s very effective and extremely affecting. The editing is flawless in my opinion. The use of archival footage, reenactments meant to be portrayed realistically, the obvious “movie” sections…it’s all weaved together so well that the film feels like it is transplanting us outside of the theater and into these discussions and meetings. Amazing stuff. 
The film is so insanely influential I think it gets forgotten amongst its influence. Like, the whole first season of the X-Files and every single film where the lead goes for a walk in a public park while a secret informant dishes out the goods just would not exist as they do without this film. Costner’s scene with Donald Sutherland perfected this scenario and it’s been structurally and visually aped ever since. 
The film is so believable and Stone presents the story with such conviction that this has the power to sway anyone. In fact, an actual law was passed as a direct result of this film: the ARRB. Because of this law, the Kennedy documents that are stated at the end of this 1991 film to not be released until 2029 were mostly released in 2017. I still want to see Stone’s film JFK Revisited to see what came from those documents and how it changes Stone’s perspective. If it does anything at all. 

Therein also lies a lot of the issues of the film. It is so convincing and so believable. This film, I’d wager a wild guess, is the sole reason for all the beliefs and theories about Kennedy’s assassination. Yes, these conspiracy theories existed before but that’s because this film takes place between 1966 and 1969 and these ideas were crafted and created by the real Jim Garrison. This film just got these theories into the hands of more people. The film paints Jim Garrison as a great man with great integrity and not a crazy bone in his body. It adds to the character’s portrayal and power by Costner. The film just shows all the slander and libel launched against Garrison and if you do some googling and reading you see many of those same lies printed as truth. The truth, as always, is somewhere in the middle. And by making Garrison such a saint, Stone is knowingly trying to sway public opinion. This acts as a slight negation of the attempts of the film because now we can’t trust the evidence put forth by the film. 
So now we as viewers are in the same boat as Garrison as shown in the film. We have to be critical of the information we receive. So now where’s the truth? What embellishments are made by the film to overcorrect negative portrayals of Garrison? Of the evidence presented by Garrison how can we discern potential truths from cinematic devices? Now Stone can be accused of manipulation much as the government has been accused of manipulation. 

I don’t know what to believe regarding JFK’s assassination. I have a hard time taking the lone wolf pill. We see this narrative always pushed whenever white men commit disgusting acts of violence. We see it every day and in 2023 we have our eyes available and seeing. We are more awake to the dishonest tactics of our authorities and we know it’s always the same story so you better be fucking suspicious when these same tactics and verbiage are used at any point in time. But was Garrison on the right track? Maybe. I dunno. Seems awfully weird for one of the hubs of conspiracy to be New Orleans. But that’s just me not accepting everything presented. Maybe he was drawing correct conclusions but the real people he was connecting to these dots was way off base. We’ll honestly and truly never know for certain any of the truths about world events of this magnitude. 
So when Oliver Stone is pushing one piece of the truth so confidently cock sure of its validity we have to not fall into a trap. And if he isn’t so confident in the material then the whole fabric of the film falls apart. 

See what I mean? This is a complicated film. You can think it’s 100% hogwash and that Jim Garrison was a lunatic with power. But then you’re positioning what is also complete hogwash as the real version. Or you let these beliefs get in the way of the film as a piece of art. There is nothing poor or mid about this movie. It’s fucking stellar. But it’s easy to lose that amongst political affiliations and belief in your own truth. You can buy into it 100% but then you’re also just blindly accepting this. The film does a great job of showing all the coincidences and “hmmm”s that can be seen when regarding the assassination so now we have to decide what all this coincidence means. Stone is confident but we shouldn’t be. When all the witnesses at the trial roll back their statements or sudden become obviously unstable in some way or another, the film posits that they were gotten to. Which…they could just be unreliable and Garrison fell for it and when he presented all his evidence the world got to see how taken and illogically obsessed and potentially manipulated Garrison was. Who knows!!

But these conflicts of form vs intent vs responsibility are all about why the film works as terrifically as it does. Why it’s so fucking good and memorable. They’re all important discussions to have and at the center we have this one film. That’s really cool to me. It makes me introspect and reflect. It makes me curious. That’s what good cinema should do and that’s what this film does. But the film also attempts to persuade and that’s where I think it loses its higher road. 

But anyway, great movie, think for yourselves, and always try to hold people accountable. Especially people in power. We must uphold accountability and not let people just get away with shit just because they are rich and/or powerful. It’s the only way to save a free and democratic way of life.