The rough part about watching a biopic is that sometimes…they just end. There is no satisfying conclusion. No happy ending. Danny Boyle’s latest film, Ink, falls into this category, and while you’re left with a truly awful taste in your mouth, it is one of the most unique biographies I’ve seen to date.
Ink starts with a scene between Larry Lamb (Jack O’Connell) and Rupert Murdoch (Guy Pearce) after Murdoch purchases The Sun and wants to hand Lamb the reins. The scene is uniquely presented in black and white with a newspaper print aesthetic that turns into the actual scene. Right off the bat, I knew I was in for something unique. The story follows Lamb through the first year of The Sun, from building the team to becoming the biggest newspaper in the world.
Gathering a gang of misfits to work together and become the underdogs that triumph is a bit cliché, but I fall for it every time. Being introduced to the cast one by one, with slight insight into who they are, doesn’t really add anything to the plot here, aside from Jules, maybe, but it does give each one a personality and tells us who to root for, and what to expect from them. Later we see more people join the team as Lamb diversifies The Sun’s content.
Lamb prided himself on integrity and professional journalism, but as he lowers his standard bit by bit, he gets a taste for success and quickly succumbs to the numbers and essentially “gives the people what they want.” O’Connell’s descent into becoming a man who only cares about what sells is uncomfortable and unnerving. Once charming and respectable becomes tasteless and cold. Guy Pearce as Murdoch shows some range, and his small moments of selfishness shine through in scenes where he attempts to be a moral compass.
“Ink is basically a biopic edited like an action film, with a dash of Ocean’s Eleven for good measure.”
My favourite character, and though flawed, the closest thing to a moral compass we actually have is Jules, played by Claire Foy, who I saw at TIFF a few years ago in Women Talking. Her ups and downs with Lamb and her experience trying to really do something in a man’s world is something I wanted to explore more. Some moments that were explored via flashbacks I felt were unnecessary, but could add some emotional depth to characters like Lamb and Jules; in all honesty, the film would have the same effect without them. Now I’m only left with questions about what happened in between to get certain characters where they are today.
Ink is basically a biopic edited like an action film, with a dash of Ocean’s Eleven for good measure. I would expect nothing else from Director Danny Boyle. Fast flashes, extreme angles, rock music paired with mundane tasks. It made what could have been a dull idea much more exciting, but still managed to keep meaning and not just offer some cheap thrills. It’s perfect for what they are trying to convey. Making news sexy, making it exciting, giving the people what they want. Make it loud. Make it flashy. Give it some scandal. The people will come.
Ink explores the rise of The Sun, the rise of the tabloid. Guilty pleasure stories and news that appeal to the regular people. What happens after is just a disturbing mirror facing society today. Flashes of Andrew Tate and The Kardashians. A hard look at what our “news” has become.
Danny Boyle and writer James Graham bring a man and a newspaper’s rise to success to the big screen in a heart-pumping, thrilling way that I am not sure many others could pull off. I don’t know how much is fact and how much is fiction, and it certainly paints Lamb as the villain and Murdoch as a partially unwilling participant, but as entertainment, it was everything I could have wanted. Ink is dramatic, exciting, disturbing and unsatisfying in all the right ways, and was a perfect way to finish off TIFF 2026.
