The American (dir. Anton Corbijn; George Clooney)

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Expendable.

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Director: Anton Corbijn (Control)
Writer: Rowan Joffe (28 Weeks Later)
Cast: George Clooney, Bruce Altman, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli and Violante Placido.
Rated: R for violence, sexual content and nudity.

IMDb - Wiki - RottenTomatoes - Trailer/Clips

Plot: Alone among assassins, Jack is a master craftsman. When a job in Sweden ends more harshly than expected for this American abroad, he vows to his contact Larry that his next assignment will be his last. Jack reports to the Italian countryside, where he holes up in a small town and relishes being away from death for a spell. The assignment, as specified by a Belgian woman, Mathilde, is in the offing as a weapon is constructed. Surprising himself, Jack seeks out the friendship of local priest Father Benedetto and pursues romance with local woman Clara. But by stepping out of the shadows, Jack may be tempting fate.

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The American hits theaters Sept. 1st via Focus Features.
 
satriales said:
Control is one my favourite movies so I will watch this purely because Anton Corbijn is directing.
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I didn't realize this was the same director. Control was excellent. Hype +10
 
Focus Features is also releasing this one pretty wide right off the bat. Check your theaters since it opens this Wednesday. Will be seeing it then!
 
Expendable. said:
My writer just got out of his screening and said it was really good. He said story is cliche, but done in the best way possible.
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I was expecting this but what the heck. Corbijn and Clooney? Yes please.
 
Holy shit! I didn't know this was made by the director of Control. Day one, then.

Edit: Okay, nvm. I was thinking of the other Kontroll--the Hungarian movie :lol
 
Expendable. said:
Press screenings were just held this morning, but embargo is set for opening day.
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That is not a good sign for a movie with this sort of pedigree. And I'd really been looking forward to it.
 
threenote said:
Holy shit! I didn't know this was made by the director of Control. Day one, then.

Edit: Okay, nvm. I was thinking of the other Kontroll--the Hungarian movie :lol
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Nope, he directed Predators this year though.
 
Looks like those expecting a crazy assassin movie starring Clooney as we know him were let down.

Loved the pace of Control and this seems to be in line. Very excited to see Clooney do something different. Seeing it first thing when I get out of work on Wed!
 
I like Corbijn AND Clooney but everything about this film seems dull for some reason. The only thing I'm liking are the really nice looking retro posters.
 
With the trailer and even the poster, Focus is clearly trying to sell this as something it definitely is not, and I'd imagine ticket sales will reflect this after the first week once ADD American audiences fall asleep with a mouthful of Whoppers. That said, some of the reviews (which point out what a very European film it is and compare it to Antonioni's work) make me quite interested to see this.

LA Times:
The first sequence of "The American," like much of the rest of the movie, contains scarcely any dialogue. The scene unfolds in the snowy emptiness of Sweden, where Jack (George Clooney) is hiking with Ingrid (Irina Björklund), a woman whose history with Jack isn't revealed.

A sniper's bullet tears through the frozen air, and in mere minutes the audience must puzzle out any number of critical questions. Who is Jack (whose real name might be Edward)? Why is someone trying to kill him? Why does he react as he does, particularly how he leaves his girlfriend?

Most movies from the big U.S. studios would doubtlessly provide responses in short order, but "The American" is content to leave many things — including a clearer explanation of what unfolds in the film's opening frames — left unsaid and unanswered.
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"This wasn't one where we said, 'We're doing an "Ocean's Eleven" franchise,'" Grant Heslov says of the film's overall European tone and structure. "On a $70-million film, it's less of an art form. That's just a fact. Anton is an artist. And he's never going to tell a movie in a straightforward way. He's willing to sit on a shot for a while and not cut away. There are going to be people who are going to be absolutely frustrated by it."

"We wanted to do a movie in the vein of the '70s foreign films that influenced so many great filmmakers today," Clooney says.
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Clooney. <3 I'm definitely seeing this. However, the writer makes me a bit worried, since 28 Weeks Later had some craptastic writing. Luckily he wasn't the only writer responsible for that, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
 
Obligatory Control and Anton Corbijn love.

I think he's said somewhere that he's quite pleased only a few people walked out of test screenings. Control had masses leaving as soon as the Joy Division stuff started up.
 
satriales said:
Yes it was. Even a simple scene of Sam Riley walking down the street and lighting a cigarette just looks incredibly cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lEgoy-Kwu8
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Excellent film, excellent song, excellent scene. Love the way he looks quite respectable until it pans around and he's painted HATE on his jacket :lol

Look forward to this film, love clooney and this sounds like it could be great!
 
Roger Ebert gives it 4 stars:


The entire drama of this film rests on two words, "Mr. Butterfly." We must be vigilant to realize that once, and only once, they are spoken by the wrong person. They cause the entire film and all of its relationships to rotate. I felt exaltation at this detail. It is so rare to see a film this carefully crafted, this patiently assembled like a weapon, that when the word comes it strikes like a clap of thunder. A lesser film would have underscored it with a shock chord, punctuated it with a sudden zoom, or cut to a shocked close up. "The American" is too cool to do that. Too Zen, if you will.

The director is a Dutchman named Anton Corbijn, known to me for "Control" (2007), the story of Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division, a suicide at 23. Corbin has otherwise made mostly music videos. Here he paints an idyllic Italian countryside as lyrical as his dialogue is taciturn. There is not a wrong shot. Every performance is tightly controlled. Clooney is in complete command of his effect. He sometimes seems to be chewing a very small piece of gum, or perhaps his tongue.
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Snowman Prophet of Doom said:
I love Ebert and think that his writing is pretty great (though his actual criticism is inconsistent), but he's a big softy these days when it comes to his scores; he gives out so many 4-star reviews these days that there's almost no prestige to them anymore.
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Pretty much.

Anyway, I'm extremely interested in the movie. Hopefully I'll get someone to see it with me, and it doesn't disappear from theaters in two weeks like some OTHER movie.
 
Cosmic Bus said:
With the trailer and even the poster, Focus is clearly trying to sell this as something it definitely is not, and I'd imagine ticket sales will reflect this after the first week once ADD American audiences fall asleep with a mouthful of Whoppers. That said, some of the reviews (which point out what a very European film it is and compare it to Antonioni's work) make me quite interested to see this.

LA Times:
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that sounds really great to me, especially this part:

The first sequence of "The American," like much of the rest of the movie, contains scarcely any dialogue.
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i still need to see control. but still, this is one of my most anticipated films of the year.
 
Damn, this sounds really good.

And I'd just like to say that when I see a paid critic call a movie or TV show "boring" I immediately dismiss whatever else they have to say. My six-year old nephew could come up with a better reason to hate something than that.
 
Loved it. It's a very, very simple movie but to say that it is beautiful is an understatement. Every shot, every editing choice, every performance is just perfect. It is definitely the anti-Bond/Bourne film. Quiet, barely any score and only a few actual "action" scenes.
 
This almost could have a been a silent movie, there was very little dialogue. That's probably a big reason why I liked it, the whole film broods with a quiet intensity that is punctuated with brief moments of violence. It's not a complicated film, the necessary details are all we're given and in that sense the film is very lean. It tells a story we've heard a million times before, but it tells it very well. Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit, although I'd still put Control (and Clooney's Michael Clayton) above it.


I still can't believe this movie got a wide release.
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Yeah, I know. I guess the studio thought they could sell it as a Bourne film with Clooney. The few people in the theater I was in did not seem amused with it, this fat guy in the front row kept loudly sighing every 20 minutes or so.
 
I'm fairly interested in seeing this. For those who have seen it, is Clooney's role award winning worthy?
 
(._.) said:
I'm fairly interested in seeing this. For those who have seen it, is Clooney's role award winning worthy?
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It's very good, he has to be because he is 95% of this film. I don't know if he'll win any awards, but I wouldn't be surprised if he gets nominated.
 
Spire said:
Yeah, I know. I guess the studio thought they could sell it as a Bourne film with Clooney. The few people in the theater I was in did not seem amused with it, this fat guy in the front row kept loudly sighing every 20 minutes or so.
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Everyone fell asleep around me and then complained at the end. :lol

(._.) said:
I'm fairly interested in seeing this. For those who have seen it, is Clooney's role award winning worthy?
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He does a great job and carries the film whereas it could have fallen apart with a lesser actor. I don't think he will be up for any awards though. There are no big Oscar-esque speeches or heavy emotional scenes.
 
I will probably definitely see this then before it leaves theaters. From what I have been reading (predictions and reviews) Clooney may be nominated again for Best Actor.
 
Went to see it with the GF today, both really enjoyed it. It is definitely much quieter and slower placed than the trailer makes it out to be, but I don't need another Bond/Bourne film. Opening scene did give me a case of the drop jaw however, definitely wins awards in that category.

I don't imagine the general public will care for it much.
 
First movie I walked out of in about, oh, say 15 years. I knew the movie wasn't going to have any action in it, but I was hoping for at least some thriller elements. It's just George Clooney paying for
sex and walking around.
That's it. :lol :lol

Easily the worst film of the year, surpassing The Losers.
 
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