I admired and liked Klute but did not quite love it as much as I loved The Conversation, which I thought tackled the coming battleground of large-scale surveillance and visibility and the small-scale world of human minutiae with more aesthetic aplomb and coherent theses.

Most of my pico-criticisms are answered in Bakula's spiritual successor to Klute, The Parallax View. Absolutely dynamite performance by Beatty, two of the most memorable cinematic experiences of the past few years for me (the film-within-the-film, and the long slow shot of Hammond's corpse being driven, via golf cart, into an increasingly large number of chairs in the now-empty auditorium.)

I'm sure many comparisons can and will be drawn between this and Three Days of the Condor, but that film chooses to at least offer the viewer a glimmer of hope: that a sufficiently disciplined and idealistic protagonist can make a difference in the world. Bakula offers no hope here, and the sheer paranoia and cynicism of this film (very few questions answered; very few fears dispelled) makes me feel like it is a perfect movie for these times, when we are once again terrified of the world around us and the people who drive it.

★★★★★

Highlights

We all ache for the chance to be proud again.