

Quite how it ended up as a movie starring Ethan Hawke is a complete mystery - and hopefully the subject of some serious soul-searching (and forensic accounting) by the various production companies involved. Tesla is the kind of silly, self-indulgent, pretentious nonsense you might expect of an experimental theatre production mounted by drama students given free rein. But I am a scientist, I relish this type of movie and don't require that it be 100% accurate. I watched it at home on DVD from my public library, my wife skipped, not her kind of subject.

But I enjoyed it, the very low ratings of "1" or "2" are bogus, it is a much better movie than that. I can understand why some rate this movie very low as they probably preferred something closer to a genuine documentary. But each time they are quick to say that never actually happened. They also have certain scenes that never really happened, like a meeting between Edison and Tesla where they agreed to put differences aside and work together, Edison admitting he was wrong. Like seeing workers vacuum a hotel floor long before vacuum cleaners were invented. This movie, starring Ethan Hawke as Nikola Tesla, is more for entertainment than education, is filled with whimsy and anachronisms. And, as we are prone to say, "The rest is history." What a different place our world would be had Tesla not come along.

Famously Edison was pushing hard in the late 1800s for widespread use of direct current, Tesla came along and, after working for Edison for a short time, partnered with Westinghouse to develop alternating current. Direct Current, so maybe he should have chosen the name Edison, the champion of Direct Current? There have been a number of movies and documentaries regarding Tesla, before this movie came out I watched a nice documentary "American Experience: Tesla (2016)" a few months ago on a DVD from my public library. It's fascinating but distancing.ĭid Elon Musk mess up by naming his car brand Tesla? The cars run on batteries, i.e.

It's another artistic choice which places a distance between this Tesla from reality and from the audience. Every aspect of this places distance between Tesla and the audience. The combination is interesting but somehow lifeless. This is most notable for its style of fake situations, narration from a side character, and an oddly strip down tone. He definitely has the quiet and he gets the intensity at times when he's allowed. This is an arthouse bio of legendary inventor Nikola Tesla. He falls for actress Sarah Bernhardt (Rebecca Dayan) who is equally fascinated with him. He does a business deal with George Westinghouse (Jim Gaffigan) and foolishly rips up their contract for Westinghouse's sake. Morgan's daughter Anne Morgan (Eve Hewson) is the movie's narrator who is taken with him and his work. He quits accusing Edison of owing him $50k. Nikola Tesla (Ethan Hawke) works for Thomas Edison (Kyle MacLachlan).
