I saw Citizen Cohn for the first time, and I realized that its air date on HBO preceded the Broadway premiere of Angels in America. In Citizen Cohn, Ray Cohn lies on his deathbed and is haunted by Ethel Rosenberg. This also occurs in Angels in America. I wonder if Tony Kushner saw Citizen Cohn on HBO before he wrote Angels. The similarities are uncanny.
In any event, James Woods gives one of his best performances as Cohn. It is the perfect match of role and actor. No one can be as vituperative and contemptuous as Woods, and it is a joy to behold Woods inhabiting the larger-than-life Cohn. In fact, he does a better job playing Cohn than Al Pacino in HBO's version of Angels in America.
Cohn is a study in contradictions -- he is self-righteous, yet he swindles one of his clients for a significant sum, leading to his disbarment and trouble with the IRS. He is a closeted gay man who embraces an extremist right wing ideology, rendering ruthless assistance to one of the most disgraced figures in American history, Senator Joe McCarthy.
Was there anything to like about Cohn? According to this film, no, and that is what makes Citizen Cohn so daring. This is a cautionary tale about the destructiveness of ambition. Cohn is like Iago, a character of Shakespearean depth whose overzealous machinations bring about his own destruction.
In any event, James Woods gives one of his best performances as Cohn. It is the perfect match of role and actor. No one can be as vituperative and contemptuous as Woods, and it is a joy to behold Woods inhabiting the larger-than-life Cohn. In fact, he does a better job playing Cohn than Al Pacino in HBO's version of Angels in America.
Cohn is a study in contradictions -- he is self-righteous, yet he swindles one of his clients for a significant sum, leading to his disbarment and trouble with the IRS. He is a closeted gay man who embraces an extremist right wing ideology, rendering ruthless assistance to one of the most disgraced figures in American history, Senator Joe McCarthy.
Was there anything to like about Cohn? According to this film, no, and that is what makes Citizen Cohn so daring. This is a cautionary tale about the destructiveness of ambition. Cohn is like Iago, a character of Shakespearean depth whose overzealous machinations bring about his own destruction.