Argo

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In what became known as ‘The Canadian Caper’, the US CIA and Canadian authorities came up with a plan so strange it could only be true: “Argo”, an elaborately faked science fiction film that was, in the wake of Star Wars, scouting exotic locations in the Middle East. Exfiltration specialist Tony Mendez would fly in to Tehran posing as a producer, and fly out with the six diplomats posing as crew members. The full extent of the operation only became known when it was declassified in 1997; Mendez detailed the events in his 2000 memoir Master of Disguise.

Affleck stars as Mendez, an estranged husband and father, who comes up with the idea after catching one of the Planet of the Apes sequels on television. He enlists the aid of makeup artist John Chambers (played by John Goodman), who won an Oscar for his work on the original Apes film, to help develop the cover. They recruit Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) to produce the fake film, and go to such lengths to make it look real that they host an in-costume script reading, create elaborate storyboards and promo artwork, and take out a full-page advertisement in Variety.

Argo shifts tone with incredible ease as it changes location, from hostage drama in Iran to Hollywood-skewering dark comedy in Los Angeles to bureaucratic CIA satire in Washington. With this third feature, following Gone Baby Gone and The Town, director Affleck has crafted his finest work. What’s particularly impressive, coming off the somewhat indulgent and excessive The Town, is the workmanlike skill with which Affleck stages and executes his story: there’s almost no fat in the film’s 2-hour running time.

One of the most remarkable things about Argo is its incredible attention to period detail; this is embodied at the closing credits, which pairs photos of the actors against the real-life people they portrayed (most of the characters, anyway – the real-life Mendez, of Latino extraction, looks nothing like Affleck). The resemblance is uncanny, not necessarily in the casting but in the makeup and wardrobe – right down to the last facial hair, everything is immaculately recreated. Period detail is likewise first-rate; this thing bleeds 1979.

Which leads me to my one minor quibble with the film: all the painstaking work put into getting the reality of this film right makes it ever more apparent when the action becomes Hollywood-ized: when one-step-ahead thriller movie clichés are thrown in to spice things up. Argo works (and works well) as a tense and exciting thriller, and would have been a different film if it were a procedural document, but to fully appreciate it you’ll have to accept the authenticity with the Hollywood make-believe.

Of course, Hollywood make-believe is a central thematic device in the film; the rescue attempt is sold on the fascination with science fiction films and filmmaking. A lot of Argo’s appeal come down to that Hollywood angle, and those in or around the industry may appreciate it more than others. It’s an aspect that has made the film an early frontrunner in the 2012 Best Picture race, while Goodman (as the real-life John Chambers) and Arkin (as a fictional producer) seem like good bets for Supporting Actor.