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Thursday, September 2, 2010

MOVIE REVIEW 
The American
Number One With A Bullet, And Gunning For Love


Violante Placido as Clara and George Clooney as Jack in Anton Corbijn's "The American", which opened yesterday in the U.S. 
Focus Features

by Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        Follow popcornreel on Twitter FOLLOW
Thursday, September 2, 2010

Wise, taut and perceptive, "The American" is a late summer treasure for adults.  Anton Corbijn's thriller treats its audience with respect.  George Clooney furthers his depth as an actor with another great, palpable performance.  The film opened across the U.S. yesterday.

Shot in the Italian countryside and directed efficiently and economically, "The American" at its heart features Jack (Mr. Clooney), a lone assassin and weapons dealer.  He's a one-stop shop for ammo too.  Want a gun made while you're waiting?  He is indeed a Jack of all trades.  Assigned to perform a hit, Jack's proficiency is tested early and late.  In between he inhabits a town the way that the Man With No Name wandered onto the landscape in Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns.  (Not by accident, Mr. Leone's "Once Upon A Time In The West" features briefly during Mr. Corbijn's drama.)

Virtually nothing is known about Jack.  A mystery man without a real purpose, love is farthest away yet closest thing to his vest.  Jack, for all his clinical methods, is almost faceless.  As played by Mr. Clooney, Jack is a stoic, cautious yet instinctual animal whose fears are contained in the subtle movements of his eyes.  For large portions of this seamless, well-contained movie Mr. Clooney reacts to silence so well we seem to see the wheels turning within him.  It's a fiercely cerebral performance.  Jack seeks a knowing solace in the big picture: we all have our cross to bear and sinning is within us all.

To put this into a certain parlance: Mr. Clooney, who looks more like an older Cary Grant than a Clark Gable, is more than just a pretty face on the big screen.  He has a depth that carries weight.  He's convinced us as a lawyer crossing ethical lines in "Michael Clayton", as a company man tied to air travel in "Up In The Air", and here in this disciplined Euro suspense flick. 

"The American" never overplays its hand.  It's a persuasive, genuinely enticing film filled with a bevy of good performances by actresses including Violante Placido, who is stunningly beautiful and perfectly balanced as Clara.  Each actress serves a distinct and important purpose to both the story and Jack's mindset.  Based on Martin Booth's novel A Very Private Gentleman, "The American" is tightly scripted by Rowan Joffe.  Mr. Corbijn lets the film's tense and pedestrian moods emanate from and around the main character, who is an anti-hero of sorts.  The film thrives off the notion that as discreet as he is, Jack as an American is out of place in Rome.  Some established American actors could easily be out of their depth in this type of overseas endeavor, but Mr. Clooney is comfortably at home abroad.

"The American" harkens back to great Hitchcock thrillers and 1960s/70s action dramas, and Martin Ruhe's great cinematography includes shot sequences that recall Carol Reed's classic film "The Third Man".  (It isn't hard to think of television series like "The Prisoner" when observing the physical dimensions of "The American" and the predicaments Jack is enmeshed in.) 

The poster for "The American" is reminiscent of the artwork done by Saul and Elaine Bass, evoking earlier films and TV series like "The Avengers".  Jack himself is a throwback to Steve McQueen's "Bullitt": cool and clinical, though lacking the confident, strong sex appeal of Mr. McQueen's San Francisco police detective title character.

Many audiences will enjoy "The American".  Some will find it a little slow for their tastes, but it's in the deliberation of Mr. Corbijn's entertaining film that you witness a scintillating chess match, spiced with flavor, excitement and tactical flair.



With: Irina Bjorklund, Johan Leysen, Paolo Bonacelli, Filippo Timi, Thekla Reuten.

"The American" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association Of America for violence, sexual content and nudity.  The film's running time is one hour and 43 minutes.

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