I'm disappointed by this movie: it didn't show me the beautiful Italy I love. No, sirree!
It didn't even show the Sweden I love. Bummer!
It failed to show George Clooney smiling his big smile I love. Sh..!
But the movie is a study in tight and spare storytelling, from the setting to the characters, to the lack of music. Yes. Silence is king here, broken only when cars bump, tires squeal, and guns pop suddenly to remind us that we are following an assassin here.
Tight and sparse, The American is a study in character development. From the first frame in a chalet in Sweden, to the last one on a river in the Abbruzzi, our character has tried to escape his work, his identity.
At the end, he succeeds.Beautifully. As the endangered butterfly he had been studying.
24 comments:
while it was disappointing in one way it sounds intriguing in another all together...so worth checking out?
Sounds like I may have to see that next year or the year after when it comes on showtime or starz or whatever. Besides wasn't that filmed in Detroit? {;-P}
Most movies these days aren't worth the price of admission. Glad to have prior warning on this one.
I wasn't crazy about the whole movie...were you? I didn't like a skinney George -an ugly American! We should be cinema critics!! Ha!
I think I will give it a miss.
Maggie X
Nuts in May
I need to see this!
It's a well-constructed story, a paragon of film making! Do give it a try if you are a writer, an artist,and see how the whole thing stands together.
If you expect what I expected, you will complain the same way.
ummmmm....thanks for that review.
Okay I'll remember what you have said here and give it a go when it eventually arrives on my shores.
ps... i like the photo
Too bad! I love Clooney. Netflix list.
Doesn't sound like my cup of tea, so thanks for the review!
Thanks for this review of yours! For sure I will go as I am more interested in the story, the making and how all comes into place. Sorry that the lack of picture form Euope disappointd you. Cant offer those countries. I do however currently post many pictures form Munich and Bavaria as I bit farewell to it, leaving to marry my American partner in 10 weeks time.
Would really like to see this! Thanks for the review.
Oh, I was going to skip seeing that movie...I'm thinking now, that I should check it out to see what you're talking about...
This movie has really been panned by the critics for many of the reasons you mentioned.
I will still probably get it thru netflix just to see George.
You are one smart cookie. I love the way you tell a story and the comments on my blog are always so enjoyable, thanks.
you make it sound intriguing...and that SMILE!
Aloha from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
So would you suggest watching it? It sounds good and bad.
Leave all your expectations behind, and enjoy a movie that doesn't miss a beat.
Ah, another movie to add to my Love Film list, althoug it hasn't come out in the UK yet. Thanks for such a heartfelt review.
Greetings from London.
Your review is ambiguous, but I understand what you mean. Were you perhaps expecting to see a postcard-Italy, like the one portrayed in Eat Pray Love and Under the Tuscan Sun? Please say it isn't so.
Didn't you find the majestic views of Abruzzo beautiful? Didn't the stormy grey clouds add to the character's looming anxiety? Did you not get lost in the maze of his little medieval stone village?
The aim of this film was to recount the chilling isolation of a villain. And IMO it managed to, beautifully.
This is an ambiance film, quiet, with very little dialogue and near absence of music. A film that tells the story of a paranoid anti-hero. One that you eventually empathize with in the end. That's why Clooney decided to produce and star in it, because it was going to show him in a totally new character and appeal.
What is your overall judgement then, thumbs up or down?
Oh Eleonora, you do increase our understanding! I had to digest the movie before I could accept it. Thumbs up, for sure.
Well, I might see it, eventually, when I have gone through the other 400 films on my Netflix list, Rosaria.
-Check out the link for info on my blogaversary giveaway:
http://rnsane.blogspot.com/2010/09/flash-55-friday-happy-anniversary-to-me.html#links
It sounds interesting!
Thanks for the map on the previous post - your world sounds so beautiful and quite remot. I can imagine how it starts to feel wintry and empty when those tourists leave..
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