Mr. Jones (2019)

They finally did it, those crazy bastards. They finally made a feature length movie out of that Counting Crows song from the 90s. Wait, I'm now being told that the film Mr. Jones (2019) starring Peter Sarsgaard, Vanessa Kirby, and James Norton from The Nevers and Happy Valley, has no relation whatsoever to that banger. Instead, this film follows the true story of Welsh journalist Gareth Jones (Norton) who achieved notoriety for interviewing Adolf Hitler in the early 30s. He parlays his connections to a former British prime minister to attain entry to the Soviet Union where he intends to interview Stalin. Instead, he is marooned in Ukraine during the notorious period in the early 30s when a famine caused by Russia wiped out millions of Ukrainians. Upon his return to the UK, Jones is met with fierce resistance any time he mentions publishing a piece about this atrocity, causing him to go to extreme lengths to see that the truth gets out there. Sarsgaard co-stars as real life journalist Walter Duranty, an American who worked inside of the Soviet Union during this time period, and Jones also rubs elbows with author and fellow Brit George Orwell (Joseph Mawle). When it comes to the decadence and debauchery of the times, it's best exemplified by a sex party where Peter Sarsgaard flashes his bare ass for the camera while walking around the party mostly nude with a fully clothed James Norton. That's gotta be doing something for somebody, right? Maggie Gyllenhaal probably. She seems like she'd really dig this scene.