Worth

Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the release of director Sara Colangelo’s intelligent biographical drama could not be more apt. At its centre is Kenneth Feinberg (played perfectly by Michael Keaton), the lawyer tasked with determining just how much compensation was to be awarded to the families and loved ones of the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Feinberg, who subsequently wrote a book called ‘What Is Life Worth?’, was all about charts and graphs and numbers, but Colangelo and screenwriter Max Borenstein chronicle how dealing with the victims’ families (Stanley Tucci, as a very voluble man who lost his wife, is particularly memorable) humanised him. The effect is moving and timely. ‘Colangelo is a thoughtful, careful filmmaker with a keen eye for the specifics of human behaviour and thus populates “Worth” with living, breathing, emoting people… Keaton is on career best form here… It’s all so human and messy and it’s refreshing to see a director that doesn’t shy away from such complexity with Colangelo crafting a film that’s every bit as nuanced as the subject at hand.’—Benjamin Lee, The Guardian