Saturday Night: An Amazing Look At Television Production
Saturday Night, directed by Jason Reitman, is the story of the ninety minutes before the first airing of SNL in 1975. In the film we see the trials and tribulations right before airing as Lorenne Micheals (Gabriel Labelle) is judging multiple huge personalities on set. He’s trying to get John Belushi (Edward Wood) to sign his contract, convince David Tebet (Willem Dafoe) to get the show to airtime and controlling a crew who are in active rebellion.
Saturday Night is a thoroughly entertaining film. If you go into the film expecting a thorough look into the formation of Saturday Night Live and the people who were a part of it, you could end up leaving the movie less than satisfied. The movie however, is an entertaining and biting look at the entertainment industry and a love letter for those who have worked on productions before. It is a vignette about the hecticness it takes to bring something as relevant as Saturday Night Live to life. Lorenne Michaels is a relatable figure in the film, as a man with a dream and a vision who will do what it takes despite knowing everything is against him. Despite all the mistakes made bringing this show to life, it’s still so investing to see how things can messily start coming together.
The film is shot in gorgeous 16mm and it brings so much personality to the film. The aesthetic sensibilities are gorgeous and the production design, bringing a 1970’s Rockefeller Plaza to life is really cool to see. There’s a beautiful live score in the movie as well, composed by Jon Batiste who could easily get nominated for an Oscar for his beautiful compositions. It’s such a rush to see all of this film come together in a chaotic glory. The type of stress created here is akin to a film like Uncut Gems. The movie hardly has time to breathe. There's so much going on at one time. So many little details you could miss on the first watch. I can see this movie being exhausting to some and riveting to others.
The casting here is excellent. A lot of the cast don’t get a lot of time to explore their characters due to the ninety minute runtime, but all of them do a great job at bringing to life the essence of the people they are playing. Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase is a highlight, it’s remarkable how well he fits the role.
This is just a fun time at the movies. If you have a fascination with late night television and media from the seventies, this is a must watch. Jason Reitman did a great job bringing this vision to life. Just know this is a vignette and not a full exploration of Saturday Night Live.
