Chappaquiddick / The Senator (2017 John Curran)

A very straight re-telling - by Taylor Allen (an animatics* editor on The Simpsons) and Andrew Logan (mainly, a producer) - of a queasy moment in Teddy Kennedy's life when - let's face it - he could well have contributed to the death of Mary Jo Kopechne by not going straight to the police (and, frankly, by driving drunkly and badly). In fact the only interesting bit of the story - how the hell did he get out of the car, and then not be able to get in to save her - is unexplained.

I was going to joke that was Bruce Dern playing Kennedy the elder - I was most surprised when it turned out it was him. Jason Clarke is his son, Kate Mara the unfortunate victim, Ed Helms as the faithful cousin. With Jim Gaffigan, Olivia Thirlby, Clancy Brown.

As a film it's just a wee bit dull. I suppose we're supposed to be shocked that it was covered up as smoothly as it was, and that he retained the trust of the American people, but the problem is we're way beyond that now in the utter incredibility of world politics (Saudi Arabia, for one).

Didn't recognise any of the names behind the camera, except Curran, who made the better The Painted Veil and Tracks.

* An animatic is the first stage of the edit in an animation. It's the combination of the storyboards, audio (possibly with temp voice acting), and timing. It's used as the base for the animation: animators will take the shot angle, durations, certain actions, and timings as a starting point for their work on each shot. Definition from Judith Allen.