The American
If Albert Camus was a film director then perhaps The American is a film that he would have made. In Anton Corbijn‘s second feature he creates an inaction film which is about waiting and watching and being patient. George Clooney is very quiet in the film and at the beginning there is so much silence that you may think that something has gone wrong with the soundtrack, but it’s all part of the plan which is to create a world where you look and listen for the smallest detail. When Clooney first speaks it is surprising as I realized that he’d been silent for a long time.
The American focusses on the times between the action as Clooney waits and prepares for a job that he wants to be his last. He interacts with people in the small Italian village where he is in seclusion and we watch as he gets closer to those in the village without revealing much about himself always aware that people are looking for him. With large, open frames and precisely-composed shots it’s lovely to look at and with a few action sequences thrown in for seasoning it’s a different sort of film that reworks the action film as an visually poetic existential drama.
This was easily one of my favorite films of the year as
well. The opening scene is particularly good. And I love a film
that can move the plot along without dialogue. It takes
skill!
The opening scene was great. It is so nice to see a film that is visual and doesn’t rely on characters explaining things to each other.
This film was the kind of slow, introspective thing I
usually ignore, that I find boring. While I am aware of what that
says about ME, I have found that movies of this kind are simply not
done well enough to compel my interest. This film, however, kept me
captivated with it’s sudden bursts of intense action,
bone-wrenching fear, separated by such long spaces of implicit
meaning…. all of the character attributes played so well by
George Clooney. In fact, I found that it was his acting that
enraptured me. Although the ending was, in my opinion, a little
predictable, that kind of made it real as well. Saying that seems
strange, for, of course, I have no idea what it would be like to be
a killer, and/or a mechanic for killers, so my idea of what is real
in this context is simply how well I was convinced by George
Clooney. This was also one of my favorite films of 2010.
You summed it up really well! It was strange how it was marketed as an action film. Clooney really carries the film which is about the characters and not the action.
I recently saw this film and completely loved it. I have to admit to not knowing anything about it before getting it. Well, I knew that Clooney was in it, but I didn’t know much about the story or how it was filmed at all. Upon first watching, I liked it and watched it a second time almost immediately. I don’t do that often. I think the quietness of it was very compelling, and yes (as Bauke mentioned above), the bursts of action scenes were able to hold my interest. Also, the story moved and people seemed to change during the film. Thought the ending was quite interesting too.