It only seems natural that a film about Nikola Tesla, a man known for his visionary, out-of-the-box thinking, takes an equally offbeat and unorthodox approach to telling his story. Such is the case for the bluntly titled Tesla, which is written and directed by Michael Almereyda, and starring Ethan Hawke in the titular role, who has collaborated with Almereyda previously with Cymbeline and more famously, the 2000 version of Hamlet. This film is, I suppose, technically a biopic, it goes through the various stages of Tesla’s career, including his famous rivalry with Thomas Edison (Kyle MacLachlan). Much of which is narrated both on and off-screen by Anne Morgan (Eve Hewson).
It doesn’t take long before you realize the filmmakers have something different up their sleeve. As Anne narrates about certain periods of his life, presenting things in a more documentary fashion, she would sometimes be seen with a laptop, at one point telling us about how Google image search only yields a few results for Tesla, and she would also speak over certain sequences, admitting that the moment never actually occurred in real life. And the anachronisms only get more bold and in-your-face as the film goes on.
Along with the documentary-esque presentation, utilizing pictures and such, Almereyda also utilizes an old fashioned technique. Sometimes a moment in the film is meant to take place in say the Niagara Falls or a bustling train station, and instead of shooting the scene on location, or even on a studio set, we will have characters wandering onto frame in front of what is essentially a matte painting. The artifice is laid bare, with very little effort put into selling the illusion. Almereyda seems to want us to feel the artifice, to not only embrace it, but to surrender ourselves to it, freeing the limitations on what we might expect for a film like this just as Tesla perhaps wanted to be freed of the limitations that ultimately led him to not be appreciated in the manner that he deserved.
In the past decade or so, I’ve noticed an increase in people disparaging the “biopic formula,” which usually means a story that covers the entire life of a subject with simplified arcs that don’t quite do justice to the real life subjects, like filmed Wikipedia articles as some have described. I’ve certainly felt that way about many, though I also think some historical figures are definitely deserving of a cradle-to-grave treatment. However, this is an area where begins to stumble.
What I found frustrating about Tesla is there that there isn’t much of a story being told. The documentary style narration is cute at first, but after a while, it’s like you’re waiting for the real movie to begin, and then…it just keeps going. There are numerous scenes that do seem like they are out of a “normal movie,” and those are the moments where it becomes rather dull. The stranger stylistic touches operate on a very thin line where it’s driven by feeling, almost like a sense of memory even. However, if that was the intention, I think I would’ve vastly preferred the whole film being an expressionistic mood piece without the various info dumps or dry dialogue sequences.
What is reliable of course is Ethan Hawke. It’s not as outwardly quirky or awkward as other performances. It’s mostly understated, relying largely on the ways he expresses his physicality in the space and the looks on his face. Hawke is great at these kinds of inwardly tortured figures trying to make do with what they can, only to be overwhelmed or cheated by the world around them. Supporting players like MacLachlan, Jim Gaffigan, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach pop in an out and doing solid work with the material given. But aside from Hawke, Hewson really shines in a role that I can’t imagine is easy tackle in how she pulls herself in and out of the narrative.
Michael Almereyda takes some mighty big swings with Tesla, but I’m not convinced most of them totally land. However, it still makes for a very fascinating watch. I’ve often talked about having a soft spot for film that go for big, weird choices, and this is certainly no exception. At its best, Tesla is dreamy, inventive, and visually striking, and at its worst, it’s bewildering, unfocused, and seemingly making its way through periods of Tesla’s life by way of uninspired exposition or scenes that are stale and dramatically unsatisfying. It is very much a mixed bag, but it’s a mixed bag that I would actually encourage people to check out if they have an open mind. I mean, it’s not everyday you get to see Ethan Hawke as Nikola Tesla doing an intense rendition of “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” by Tears For Fears. And no, I’m not making that up.
Tesla is now out in select theaters and VOD platforms.