In Netflix Belgian thriller Noise Mattias (Ward Kerremans), a social influencer with a baby son, uncovers secrets from the past when he and his wife, Liv (Sallie Harmsen), move back to his childhood home. It’s twisty and tinged with horror, but it also requires attention to follow what’s going on, and indeed, what’s real and what is not.
Co-written and directed by Steffen Geypens, it’s a small-town chiller that’s high on atmosphere, in particular (as you might expect) the audio elements as the increasingly unsettled Mattias dives down a rabbit hole of his family history, while becoming more and more disconnected from his child.
But what happened and why? We break it down.
Why have Liv, Mattias and Julius moved house?
Mattias’ father Pol (Johan Leysen) has dementia and is now in a nearby care facility. It’s close enough to the house where he...
Co-written and directed by Steffen Geypens, it’s a small-town chiller that’s high on atmosphere, in particular (as you might expect) the audio elements as the increasingly unsettled Mattias dives down a rabbit hole of his family history, while becoming more and more disconnected from his child.
But what happened and why? We break it down.
Why have Liv, Mattias and Julius moved house?
Mattias’ father Pol (Johan Leysen) has dementia and is now in a nearby care facility. It’s close enough to the house where he...
- 3/21/2023
- by Rosie Fletcher
- Den of Geek
Noise is a thriller directed by Steffen Geypens starring Sallie Harmsen and Ward Kerremans.
A psychological suspense thriller very much in the style of Henry James… except for the more than obvious discrepancies, and it’s modernised. Good photography, good performances in a script that does not want – at any time – to escape from the genre’s tempting clutches.
About the Film
A film with very good photography and with very well-directed and curated scenes for a script that, however, does not want to step outside the established patterns of these psychological horror and “house in the suburbs” and family secrets films.
The best of the movie: the actress, Sallie Harmsen – who looks (more than suspiciously) like Naomi Watts making one of those movies that the phenomenal Australian actress delights in doing. Sallie Harmsen provides the character of an anguished mother perfectly, portraying her character with ease and knowing how...
A psychological suspense thriller very much in the style of Henry James… except for the more than obvious discrepancies, and it’s modernised. Good photography, good performances in a script that does not want – at any time – to escape from the genre’s tempting clutches.
About the Film
A film with very good photography and with very well-directed and curated scenes for a script that, however, does not want to step outside the established patterns of these psychological horror and “house in the suburbs” and family secrets films.
The best of the movie: the actress, Sallie Harmsen – who looks (more than suspiciously) like Naomi Watts making one of those movies that the phenomenal Australian actress delights in doing. Sallie Harmsen provides the character of an anguished mother perfectly, portraying her character with ease and knowing how...
- 3/17/2023
- by Martin Cid
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
Pink Moon Review — Pink Moon (2022) Film Review from the 21st Annual Tribeca Film Festival, a movie directed by Floor van der Meulen, written by Bastiaan Kroeger and starring Julia Akkermans, Johan Leysen, Eelco Smits, Anniek Pheifer, Sinem Kavus, Glenn Coenen, Jenny Hsia, Claire Schuyffel and Lolu Ajayi. Filmmaker Floor van der Meulen’s new [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: Pink Moon: Offbeat Drama Has Solid Performances but a Meandering Plot [Tribeca 2022]...
Continue reading: Film Review: Pink Moon: Offbeat Drama Has Solid Performances but a Meandering Plot [Tribeca 2022]...
- 6/17/2022
- by Thomas Duffy
- Film-Book
By Abe Friedtanzer
There is one thing that is true for everyone: we’re going to die. Some worry that talking about it will make it happen sooner – that’s a quote that my wife, who works in the end-of-life space, often uses to dispel the stigma around the idea of planning for a good death. Just because one person might be ready to open up about it, doesn’t mean others in their immediate vicinity will be. In Pink Moon, a Dutch-Slovenian film premiering at this year’s Tribeca festival, one 74-year-old father, Jan (Johan Leysen), decides he’s ready to end his life, something his children, particularly his daughter Iris (Julia Akkermans) are not okay with at all...
There is one thing that is true for everyone: we’re going to die. Some worry that talking about it will make it happen sooner – that’s a quote that my wife, who works in the end-of-life space, often uses to dispel the stigma around the idea of planning for a good death. Just because one person might be ready to open up about it, doesn’t mean others in their immediate vicinity will be. In Pink Moon, a Dutch-Slovenian film premiering at this year’s Tribeca festival, one 74-year-old father, Jan (Johan Leysen), decides he’s ready to end his life, something his children, particularly his daughter Iris (Julia Akkermans) are not okay with at all...
- 6/14/2022
- by Abe Friedtanzer
- FilmExperience
Collection of shorts was filmed with Covid-19 safety measures in place by directors including Michael R Roskam (‘Bullhead’).
A collection of films shot during lockdown with a cast that includes Matthias Schoenaerts is to be presented at Re>Connext (Oct 5-31), the annual film and TV showcase run by Flanders Image.
A first look at The Lockdown Shorts, which spans drama, comedy, thriller and horror, will be presented as a works in progress project at the virtual event by producer-directors Gilles Coulier and Maarten Moerkerke.
All 12 films were shot under coronavirus-safe conditions on the same studio set: a prison visiting...
A collection of films shot during lockdown with a cast that includes Matthias Schoenaerts is to be presented at Re>Connext (Oct 5-31), the annual film and TV showcase run by Flanders Image.
A first look at The Lockdown Shorts, which spans drama, comedy, thriller and horror, will be presented as a works in progress project at the virtual event by producer-directors Gilles Coulier and Maarten Moerkerke.
All 12 films were shot under coronavirus-safe conditions on the same studio set: a prison visiting...
- 9/29/2020
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
"Something's not right." Signature Entertainment has debuted a new UK trailer for the Belgian crime film Above the Law, originally titled Tueurs in French (which translates to Killers). This first premiered at the Venice Film Festival back in late 2017, but is only now getting a release outside of France and Belgium. This lean, slick, fast-paced action film is based on a true story from 1982. The twisted crime thriller involves a gangster pulling one last job, who witnesses an investigator get killed by a group of masked commandos. He works to free himself and figure out what's really going on, which leads to them discovery a conspiracy that goes all the way up to the top politicians in Belgium. Starring Olivier Gourmet as Frank, with Lubna Azabal, Kevin Janssens, Bouli Lanners, Natacha Régnier, Johan Leysen, Gilles De Schryver, and Stéphanie Crayencour. There is still no Us release planned for this yet,...
- 3/7/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Network: Starz
Episodes: 16 (hour)
Seasons: Two
TV show dates: November 15, 2014 -- April 2, 2017
Series status: Has not been cancelled
Performers include: James Nesbitt, Frances O'Connor, Tchéky Karyo, Jason Flemyng, Ken Stott, Diana Quick, Arsher Ali, Titus De Voogdt, Saïd Taghmaoui, Anastasia Hille, Oliver Hunt, Jean-François Wolff, Eric Godon, Émilie Dequenne, Anamaria Marinca, Johan Leysen, David Morrissey, Keeley Hawes, Jake Davies, Abigail Hardingham, Laura Fraser, and Roger Allam.
TV show description:
This anthology TV series follows a new case with new characters in a new location each season. The story unfolds over multiple time frames simultaneously.
The first season begins when a five year-old boy named Oliver (Oliver Hunt) disappears while on holiday in France. This event starts a nearly decade-long search for his whereabouts. Viewers are taken inside the mind of the boy's...
Episodes: 16 (hour)
Seasons: Two
TV show dates: November 15, 2014 -- April 2, 2017
Series status: Has not been cancelled
Performers include: James Nesbitt, Frances O'Connor, Tchéky Karyo, Jason Flemyng, Ken Stott, Diana Quick, Arsher Ali, Titus De Voogdt, Saïd Taghmaoui, Anastasia Hille, Oliver Hunt, Jean-François Wolff, Eric Godon, Émilie Dequenne, Anamaria Marinca, Johan Leysen, David Morrissey, Keeley Hawes, Jake Davies, Abigail Hardingham, Laura Fraser, and Roger Allam.
TV show description:
This anthology TV series follows a new case with new characters in a new location each season. The story unfolds over multiple time frames simultaneously.
The first season begins when a five year-old boy named Oliver (Oliver Hunt) disappears while on holiday in France. This event starts a nearly decade-long search for his whereabouts. Viewers are taken inside the mind of the boy's...
- 8/30/2018
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
"You need a lot of love. From your audience, too." Studiocanal has debuted the first UK trailer for a Belgian drama titled Souvenir, starring French actress Isabelle Huppert as a former singer now working at a factory in a small town. The film played at a few major festivals last fall, including Toronto and London, and is opening in Us theaters later this year. Huppert plays Liliane Cheverny, who was once "Laura", a singer who finished second in the 1974 European Song Contest. Her singing dreams are reignited when she meets a young boxer who convinces her she should make a comeback. Also starring Kévin Azaïs, Johan Leysen, Muriel Bersy, and Benjamin Boutboul. This looks like a provocative, passionate film about lost dreams. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Bavo Defurne's Souvenir, direct from YouTube: Liliane (Isabelle Huppert) was once "Laura", a rising star in the singing world, who had her moment of glory when she finished second in the ...
- 6/20/2017
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
New Europe Film Sales is representing the Bel-Swe-Nor-nl co-production.
Cloudboy has won the Works In Progress award - which comes with an $11,000 (€10,000) prize - at Flanders Image’s inaugural NeXT event. The story is about a Belgian boy who connects to his Swedish mother’s Sami roots during a summer trip to Lapland.
An international industry jury said, “We really want to see the special world that director Meikeminne Clinckspoor has created. We thought producer Katleen Goossens was very well prepared with her presentation, and both she and Meikeminne also told us about the heart of the story not just the plot. The story is both original and universal and we think it will appeal to wide audiences.”
Flanders Image had invited invited 13 projects in post-production – all backed by the Flanders Audiovisual fund — to pitch to the international industry in attendance.
The 13 projects in detail:
Blue Silence, wr/dir Bülent Öztürk, prod [link=nm...
Cloudboy has won the Works In Progress award - which comes with an $11,000 (€10,000) prize - at Flanders Image’s inaugural NeXT event. The story is about a Belgian boy who connects to his Swedish mother’s Sami roots during a summer trip to Lapland.
An international industry jury said, “We really want to see the special world that director Meikeminne Clinckspoor has created. We thought producer Katleen Goossens was very well prepared with her presentation, and both she and Meikeminne also told us about the heart of the story not just the plot. The story is both original and universal and we think it will appeal to wide audiences.”
Flanders Image had invited invited 13 projects in post-production – all backed by the Flanders Audiovisual fund — to pitch to the international industry in attendance.
The 13 projects in detail:
Blue Silence, wr/dir Bülent Öztürk, prod [link=nm...
- 10/11/2016
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
The debut feature from Kenneth Mercken triumphed in a field of eight projects.
Coureur, directed by Kenneth Mercken and produced by Eurydice Gysel and Koen Mortier of Czar Film, has won the best project pitch at the inaugural NeXT in Ghent.
The Flanders Image event invited eight projects in development — all backed by the Flanders Audiovisual Fund — to pitch to the international industry in attendance.
Of Coureur, the industry jury said they were “especially impressed with Kenneth’s personal point of view in his own father-son story, and how he can tell this story of the cycling world from a very inside point of view in a unique way… We think it’s a film that will be quite personal to his experience but also can appeal to wide audiences.”
Ace and Lites donate $11,000 (€10,000) in facilities spend to each award winner. The prize also includes a media spend for advertising.
Details of the...
Coureur, directed by Kenneth Mercken and produced by Eurydice Gysel and Koen Mortier of Czar Film, has won the best project pitch at the inaugural NeXT in Ghent.
The Flanders Image event invited eight projects in development — all backed by the Flanders Audiovisual Fund — to pitch to the international industry in attendance.
Of Coureur, the industry jury said they were “especially impressed with Kenneth’s personal point of view in his own father-son story, and how he can tell this story of the cycling world from a very inside point of view in a unique way… We think it’s a film that will be quite personal to his experience but also can appeal to wide audiences.”
Ace and Lites donate $11,000 (€10,000) in facilities spend to each award winner. The prize also includes a media spend for advertising.
Details of the...
- 10/11/2016
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
It starts with bubbles. So many bubbles rising slowly in liquid as the opening credits in script font flash onscreen. And when the camera finally pans out to see what it’s been that’s mesmerized us so? A glass of water with an Alkaseltzer dropped in, of course. This is the humor director Bavo Defurne and his co-writers Jacques Boon and Yves Verbraeken infuse throughout their outside-the-box romance Souvenir. As it is the woman about to drink this concoction is hardly special: she lives alone, watches trivia game shows, and works at a pâté factory garnishing one pan after the next in blissful monotony and anonymity. Today is the day that all stops.
Liliane (Isabelle Huppert) has a secret no one has yet caught onto until a twenty-two year old boxer begins working at her job. Jean (Kévin Azaïs) recognizes her from somewhere, but it takes a couple days...
Liliane (Isabelle Huppert) has a secret no one has yet caught onto until a twenty-two year old boxer begins working at her job. Jean (Kévin Azaïs) recognizes her from somewhere, but it takes a couple days...
- 9/9/2016
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Souvenir
Director: Bavo Defurne
Writers: Bavo Defurne, Jacques Boon, Yves Verbraeken
Belgian director Bavo Defurne moves from coming out narrative with his 2011 debut North Sea Texas to comeback story with sophomore effort, Souvenir (a title Joanna Hogg is currently using for her next project, expected in 2017). Liliane, a faded Eurovision singer now works in a pate factory, but a much younger man who happens to be an aspiring boxer, fancies her. Together, they stage a grand come back for the forgotten chanteuse. While this sounds offbeat and cute, Defurne scores Isabelle Huppert as his faded pop star and Kevin Azais, a recent Cesar winner for Love at First Fight (2014) as the younger man. This sounds like a far cry from Defurne’s first film, a solid Belgian drama about gay youth, which was distributed by Strand Releasing stateside in 2012. We look forward to seeing Huppert in a much lighter, significant...
Director: Bavo Defurne
Writers: Bavo Defurne, Jacques Boon, Yves Verbraeken
Belgian director Bavo Defurne moves from coming out narrative with his 2011 debut North Sea Texas to comeback story with sophomore effort, Souvenir (a title Joanna Hogg is currently using for her next project, expected in 2017). Liliane, a faded Eurovision singer now works in a pate factory, but a much younger man who happens to be an aspiring boxer, fancies her. Together, they stage a grand come back for the forgotten chanteuse. While this sounds offbeat and cute, Defurne scores Isabelle Huppert as his faded pop star and Kevin Azais, a recent Cesar winner for Love at First Fight (2014) as the younger man. This sounds like a far cry from Defurne’s first film, a solid Belgian drama about gay youth, which was distributed by Strand Releasing stateside in 2012. We look forward to seeing Huppert in a much lighter, significant...
- 1/11/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Jean-Luc Godard in his youthful days. Jean-Luc Godard solution for the Greek debt crisis: 'Therefore' copyright payments A few years ago, Nouvelle Vague filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, while plugging his Film Socialisme, chipped in with a surefire solution for the seemingly endless – and bottomless – Greek debt crisis. In July 2011, Godard told The Guardian's Fiachra Gibbons: The Greeks gave us logic. We owe them for that. It was Aristotle who came up with the big 'therefore'. As in, 'You don't love me any more, therefore ...' Or, 'I found you in bed with another man, therefore ...' We use this word millions of times, to make our most important decisions. It's about time we started paying for it. If every time we use the word therefore, we have to pay 10 euros to Greece, the crisis will be over in one day, and the Greeks will not have to sell the Parthenon to the Germans.
- 6/30/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Starz initially described The Missing as a mini-series. Then, despite very poor ratings, they picked it up for a second season which will focus on a new case and different characters. Should they have cancelled this series instead? Will the already small audience stick around to see the end of this season? Stay tuned.
On The Missing, a father (James Nesbitt) embarks on an obsessive quest to find his long missing son. It damages his marriage and threatens to destroy his life as well. The cast also includes Frances O'Connor, Tchéky Karyo, Jason Flemyng, Ken Stott, Diana Quick, Arsher Ali, Titus De Voogdt, Saïd Taghmaoui, Anastasia Hille, Oliver Hunt, Jean-François Wolff, Eric Godon, Émilie Dequenne, Anamaria Marinca, and Johan Leysen.
(more…)...
On The Missing, a father (James Nesbitt) embarks on an obsessive quest to find his long missing son. It damages his marriage and threatens to destroy his life as well. The cast also includes Frances O'Connor, Tchéky Karyo, Jason Flemyng, Ken Stott, Diana Quick, Arsher Ali, Titus De Voogdt, Saïd Taghmaoui, Anastasia Hille, Oliver Hunt, Jean-François Wolff, Eric Godon, Émilie Dequenne, Anamaria Marinca, and Johan Leysen.
(more…)...
- 12/29/2014
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
Network: Starz
Episodes: Ongoing (hour)
Seasons: Ongoing
TV show dates: November 15, 2014 -- present
Series status: Has not been cancelled
Performers include: James Nesbitt, Frances O'Connor, Tchéky Karyo, Jason Flemyng, Ken Stott, Diana Quick, Arsher Ali, Titus De Voogdt, Saïd Taghmaoui, Anastasia Hille, Oliver Hunt, Jean-François Wolff, Eric Godon, Émilie Dequenne, Anamaria Marinca, and Johan Leysen.
TV show description:
This anthology TV series follows a new case with new characters in a new location each season. The story unfolds over two time frames simultaneously.
The first season begins when a five year-old boy named Oliver (Oliver Hunt) disappears while on holiday in France. This event starts a nearly decade-long search for his whereabouts. Viewers are taken inside the mind of the boy's father, Tony Hughes (James Nesbitt), desperate to locate his lost son.
Episodes: Ongoing (hour)
Seasons: Ongoing
TV show dates: November 15, 2014 -- present
Series status: Has not been cancelled
Performers include: James Nesbitt, Frances O'Connor, Tchéky Karyo, Jason Flemyng, Ken Stott, Diana Quick, Arsher Ali, Titus De Voogdt, Saïd Taghmaoui, Anastasia Hille, Oliver Hunt, Jean-François Wolff, Eric Godon, Émilie Dequenne, Anamaria Marinca, and Johan Leysen.
TV show description:
This anthology TV series follows a new case with new characters in a new location each season. The story unfolds over two time frames simultaneously.
The first season begins when a five year-old boy named Oliver (Oliver Hunt) disappears while on holiday in France. This event starts a nearly decade-long search for his whereabouts. Viewers are taken inside the mind of the boy's father, Tony Hughes (James Nesbitt), desperate to locate his lost son.
- 12/29/2014
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
Chicago – “Young & Beautiful” may have people rethinking the phrase, “Oh, to be young and beautiful again.” Well, maybe the “young” part, since we seldom don’t hear lamentations of the loss of beauty. Here’s a film that reminds us that wisdom not only comes with age, but also with mistakes.
It also serves as a reminder that in our youth, we often get stuck in irreversibly bad patterns that hurt ourselves and the ones who love us. Writer/director Francois Ozon’s latest leaves us to decide whether or not the young and beautiful protagonist has any regret for her rash and vacant erotic adventures.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
The film opens on a teenage girl relaxing topless on a beach in France, while a younger boy peeps through binoculars from the tree line above her. She is seventeen year-old Isabelle (Marine Vacth) and he is her curious brother, Victor (Fantin Ravat...
It also serves as a reminder that in our youth, we often get stuck in irreversibly bad patterns that hurt ourselves and the ones who love us. Writer/director Francois Ozon’s latest leaves us to decide whether or not the young and beautiful protagonist has any regret for her rash and vacant erotic adventures.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
The film opens on a teenage girl relaxing topless on a beach in France, while a younger boy peeps through binoculars from the tree line above her. She is seventeen year-old Isabelle (Marine Vacth) and he is her curious brother, Victor (Fantin Ravat...
- 5/20/2014
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Starz and BBC Worldwide are teaming to produce and air the original eight-episode drama series "The Missing" which has begun filming in Brussels. The series will air this Fall on BBC1 in the U.K. and Starz in the United States.
James Nesbitt plays a man devastated by the abduction of his young son during a family vacation in France. He becomes a man obsessed, unable to accept that his child may be dead and spends years searching for him. Tony’s exhaustive search fractures his marriage to Emily (Frances O’ Connor) and threatens to destroy his life.
Tcheky Karyo plays Julien, the French police detective who launched the initial search for the child. Even though he is retired in present day, he too cannot shake the small belief that the child may still be alive.
Jason Flemyng, Ken Stott, Arsher Ali, Said Taghmaoui, Emile Dequenne, Anamaria Marinca, Eric Godon,...
James Nesbitt plays a man devastated by the abduction of his young son during a family vacation in France. He becomes a man obsessed, unable to accept that his child may be dead and spends years searching for him. Tony’s exhaustive search fractures his marriage to Emily (Frances O’ Connor) and threatens to destroy his life.
Tcheky Karyo plays Julien, the French police detective who launched the initial search for the child. Even though he is retired in present day, he too cannot shake the small belief that the child may still be alive.
Jason Flemyng, Ken Stott, Arsher Ali, Said Taghmaoui, Emile Dequenne, Anamaria Marinca, Eric Godon,...
- 3/7/2014
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
A vacant central performance and equally empty directorial treatment cast no light on the difficult subject of teenage prostitution
The whiff of fatuousness pervades François Ozon's film about "what it feels like to be 17" in which the grim subject of teenage prostitution is flirted with "to illustrate the questions of identity and sexuality raised by adolescence". Blithely quoting the poems of Rimbaud and the songs of Françoise Hardy, Ozon presents a four seasons portrait of "young and beautiful" Isabelle (Marine Vacth) who drifts listlessly from losing her virginity on a beach to selling her body in hotels.
Her motives are unclear. Beyond a disenchantment with people in general and sex in particular, there's no driving force (monetary, domestic) behind her actions. Inevitably, she ends up making a "connection" with an ageing client (Johan Leysen) with whom Ozon breezily imagines that her professional transactions are "tender, not at all mechanical", the tiredest of soft-soap cliches.
The whiff of fatuousness pervades François Ozon's film about "what it feels like to be 17" in which the grim subject of teenage prostitution is flirted with "to illustrate the questions of identity and sexuality raised by adolescence". Blithely quoting the poems of Rimbaud and the songs of Françoise Hardy, Ozon presents a four seasons portrait of "young and beautiful" Isabelle (Marine Vacth) who drifts listlessly from losing her virginity on a beach to selling her body in hotels.
Her motives are unclear. Beyond a disenchantment with people in general and sex in particular, there's no driving force (monetary, domestic) behind her actions. Inevitably, she ends up making a "connection" with an ageing client (Johan Leysen) with whom Ozon breezily imagines that her professional transactions are "tender, not at all mechanical", the tiredest of soft-soap cliches.
- 12/1/2013
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Sundance Selects has acquired U.S. rights to Francois Ozon's Cannes Film Festival competition title 'Young & Beautiful.' Full press release below. Cannes, France (May 22, 2013) – Sundance Selects announced today from the 2013 Cannes Film Festival that the company is acquiring U.S. rights to writer-director François Ozon's Young & Beautiful from Wild Bunch. The film, with a star-making turn by Marine Vacth in thelead role, also stars Geraldine Pailhas, Frederic Pierrot, Fantin Ravat, Johan Leysen, Charlotte Rampling, Nathalie Richard, Djedje Apali, Lucas Prisor, Laurent Delbecque, Jeanne Ruff, and Serge Hefez. Produced by Eric & Nicolas Altmayer, and with a screenplay by Ozon, Young & Beautiful made its world premiere this week in Competition at the festival.Ozon’s film Swimming Pool was in Competition at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. Ozon's Young & Beautiful is a provocative drama about a young woman coming of age from her sexual awakening to...
- 5/22/2013
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
Sundance Selects has picked up N. American film distribution rights to the drama which also stars Geraldine Pailhas, Frederic Pierrot, Fantin Ravat, Johan Leysen, Charlotte Rampling, Nathalie Richard, Djedje Apali, Lucas Prisor, Laurent Delbecque, Jeanne Ruff, and Serge Hefez, reports Deadline. The French title also known as Jeune & jolie, which is written and helmed by François Ozon, tells of seventeen-year-old Isabelle, who is starting to explore her sexuality. Pic takes place over a year and is split into four segments, each of which is separated by a Françoise Hardy song. Covers her journey of losing her virginity and taking on a life of prostitution. Eric Altmayer and Nicolas Altmayer produce.
- 5/22/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
François Ozon has concocted a tense, serious study of a 17-year-old girl's sexual awakening. It plays a little like Belle de Jour without the subversion
François Ozon's new film is a luxurious fantasy of a young girl's flowering: a very French and very male fantasy, like the pilot episode of the world's classiest soap opera. There's some softcore eroticism and an entirely, if enjoyably, absurd final scene with Charlotte Rampling, whose cameo lends a grandmotherly seal of approval to the drama's sexual adventure. But this is well-crafted and well-acted, with strong performances from Géraldine Pailhas and Frédéric Pierrot as well-to-do middle-aged couple Sylvie and Patrick, and from newcomer Marine Vacth as Isabelle, their 17-year-old daughter, who is on the verge of a seismic personal transformation. There is also a nice contribution from Fantin Ravat as Isabelle's kid brother Victor: a saucer-eyed onlooker and confidant – and also, I suspect,...
François Ozon's new film is a luxurious fantasy of a young girl's flowering: a very French and very male fantasy, like the pilot episode of the world's classiest soap opera. There's some softcore eroticism and an entirely, if enjoyably, absurd final scene with Charlotte Rampling, whose cameo lends a grandmotherly seal of approval to the drama's sexual adventure. But this is well-crafted and well-acted, with strong performances from Géraldine Pailhas and Frédéric Pierrot as well-to-do middle-aged couple Sylvie and Patrick, and from newcomer Marine Vacth as Isabelle, their 17-year-old daughter, who is on the verge of a seismic personal transformation. There is also a nice contribution from Fantin Ravat as Isabelle's kid brother Victor: a saucer-eyed onlooker and confidant – and also, I suspect,...
- 5/16/2013
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The American is a Marmite film, that I was told to expect to hate, by my own editor no less. Now, he knows my tastes mostly, thanks to endless conversations about movies and the industry that brings them to life, so his rather vocal assertion that I would definitely hate The American wasn’t exactly a heart-warming memory when the Blu-ray was delivered into my hands. Perhaps he would be wrong- perhaps this would be one of the odd occasions he called the play wrong, or maybe I was in for two very dull hours…
The American is claimed to be an action film with minimal action, and on the surface is shot in a preposterously pompous and extremely European arthouse manner, which is more ponderous than actually thought-provoking. Which is probably the exact review that Matt thought I was going to post. But that isn’t the tale of this review at all.
The American is claimed to be an action film with minimal action, and on the surface is shot in a preposterously pompous and extremely European arthouse manner, which is more ponderous than actually thought-provoking. Which is probably the exact review that Matt thought I was going to post. But that isn’t the tale of this review at all.
- 4/4/2011
- by Simon Gallagher
- Obsessed with Film
George Clooney stars as an assassin in hiding. Contrary to the trailer, this is not a Bourne type thrill ride, but more of a slow burn about the pitfalls of such a profession. If you can put that miss-sell aside, you will find a well-acted film. Jack (George Clooney) is an assassin on the run from rival assassins. He ends up in Rome and contacts Pavel (Johan Leysen) who sends him to a remote Italian village. Jack goes to an adjacent village instead, poses as a photographer named Edward, and meets elderly priest Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli) - who sees the darkness in this new stranger and tries to get .Edward. to confess his troubles. Edward...
- 12/31/2010
- by Jeff Swindoll
- Monsters and Critics
After the Holidays everyone likely has some Christmas money, gift cards or maybe you want to make an exchange. We have you covered with the new releases on Blu-ray and Netflix for the week of December 28th!
Blu-ray Releases:
And Soon The Darkness
Add to Queue Synopsis:
Stephanie (Amber Heard) and Ellie’s (Odette Yustman) vacation to an exotic village in Argentina is a perfect ‘girl’s getaway’ to bask in the sun, shop and flirt with the handsome locals. After a long night of bar-hopping, the girls get into an argument, and Stephanie heads out alone in the morning to cool off. But when she returns, Ellie has disappeared. Finding signs of a struggle, Stephanie fears the worst, and turns to the police for help. But the local authorities have their hands full already - with a string of unsolved kidnappings targeting young female tourists. Skeptical of the sheriff’s competency,...
Blu-ray Releases:
And Soon The Darkness
Add to Queue Synopsis:
Stephanie (Amber Heard) and Ellie’s (Odette Yustman) vacation to an exotic village in Argentina is a perfect ‘girl’s getaway’ to bask in the sun, shop and flirt with the handsome locals. After a long night of bar-hopping, the girls get into an argument, and Stephanie heads out alone in the morning to cool off. But when she returns, Ellie has disappeared. Finding signs of a struggle, Stephanie fears the worst, and turns to the police for help. But the local authorities have their hands full already - with a string of unsolved kidnappings targeting young female tourists. Skeptical of the sheriff’s competency,...
- 12/28/2010
- by Tiberius
- GeekTyrant
The American
Directed by Anton Corbijn
Action fans and George Clooney enthusiasts might well be ill-prepared for The American, which, despite its marketing as a slam-bang thriller, is actually closer in spirit to Euro arthouse fare, and features Clooney in full-on “emptied out” mode. (It’s best described as a brooding drama slightly peppered with violence.) Anton Corbijn’s film, his follow-up to the lauded Ian Curtis biopic Control, is strongest when it avoids crowd-pleasing impulses to focus in on Clooney’s brooding performance and the unusually craftsmanlike nature of his work.
There lies another misdirection, as this is not a story about a hitman per se. Clooney essays “Jack” (or perhaps “Edward”; his true name is never identified), whose occupation – referred to in Martin Booth’s novel A Very Private Gentleman, the film’s source material, as a “shadow-dweller” – is to act as a hitman’s liaison who takes orders for,...
Directed by Anton Corbijn
Action fans and George Clooney enthusiasts might well be ill-prepared for The American, which, despite its marketing as a slam-bang thriller, is actually closer in spirit to Euro arthouse fare, and features Clooney in full-on “emptied out” mode. (It’s best described as a brooding drama slightly peppered with violence.) Anton Corbijn’s film, his follow-up to the lauded Ian Curtis biopic Control, is strongest when it avoids crowd-pleasing impulses to focus in on Clooney’s brooding performance and the unusually craftsmanlike nature of his work.
There lies another misdirection, as this is not a story about a hitman per se. Clooney essays “Jack” (or perhaps “Edward”; his true name is never identified), whose occupation – referred to in Martin Booth’s novel A Very Private Gentleman, the film’s source material, as a “shadow-dweller” – is to act as a hitman’s liaison who takes orders for,...
- 12/26/2010
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
This is a competition for The American, directed by Anton Corbijn and starring George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli, Irina Björklund, Björn Granath, Johan Leysen, Filippo Timi and Samuli Vauramo. Academy Award winner George Clooney stars in the title role of this suspense thriller, filmed on location in Italy. Alone among assassins, Jack (played by Mr. Clooney) is a master craftsman. When a job in Sweden ends more harshly than expected for this American abroad, he vows to his contact Larry (Bruce Altman) 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.
- 12/4/2010
- by Dan Higgins
- Pure Movies
This is the Pure Movies review for The American, directed by Anton Corbijn and starring George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli, Irina Björklund, Björn Granath, Johan Leysen, Filippo Timi and Samuli Vauramo. Written by Dan Higgins. This is a literary adaptation of Martin Booth’s A Very Private Gentleman and, as the title suggests, Clooney plays a character that is both enigmatic and elusive. In fact, he hardly talks. He has no women in his life and, from the opening scene, it is easy to see why this is the case. A priest attempts to befriend Jack (who now goes by Edward), while he finds company, solace and sex with a local prostitute called Clara. It is evident though that he is being tracked and his past seemingly instructs him to trust nobody and be suspicious of everyone, including people that he starts relationships with.
- 11/27/2010
- by Dan Higgins
- Pure Movies
George Clooney stars in Anton Corbijn’s The American as hired assassin Jack, a man on the verge of retirement and in the midst of a unique type of mid-life crisis. Following an opening sequence in which Jack is attacked he hides in a remote Italian village informing his handler/boss/agent Pavel (Johan Leysen) that he wants to give up the assassin business for good. Offering Jack one last job where he doesn’t even have to kill, Pavel tasks him with building a custom rifle for another assassin, Mathilda (Thekla Reuten). Whilst building this rifle, something he does with great care and attention, he befriends a local priest (Paolo Bonacelli), begins a romantic affair with a local prostitute Clara (Violante Placido) and attempts to avoid various assassination attempts.
What could have easily been a throwaway action filled thriller is, in the hands of director Anton Corbijn, a calm...
What could have easily been a throwaway action filled thriller is, in the hands of director Anton Corbijn, a calm...
- 11/26/2010
- by Craig Skinner
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
George Clooney stars as a hitman lying low in Anton Corbijn's stylish but ultimately uninvolving second film. By Peter Bradshaw
Anton Corbijn's new film is an intelligent, beautifully photographed, if intensely self-conscious drama about an assassin's mid-life crisis. The movie is pitched at a low key: finely judged, but at times rather exasperatingly thoughtful and muted. It purrs evenly, like the engine of a luxury automobile, with a cool, sleek satisfaction at how stylish it is. That said, it is pretty stylish, and the remote, islanded sense of loneliness and tension is well managed: Frederick Forsyth with a dash of Graham Greene.
The star is George Clooney, who here withholds from his audience the warm and witty persona he normally projects, and presents us instead with an ice-cold hitman called Jack, whose career has just suffered the most calamitous reversal. At first, like a gnarled and careworn 007, Jack...
Anton Corbijn's new film is an intelligent, beautifully photographed, if intensely self-conscious drama about an assassin's mid-life crisis. The movie is pitched at a low key: finely judged, but at times rather exasperatingly thoughtful and muted. It purrs evenly, like the engine of a luxury automobile, with a cool, sleek satisfaction at how stylish it is. That said, it is pretty stylish, and the remote, islanded sense of loneliness and tension is well managed: Frederick Forsyth with a dash of Graham Greene.
The star is George Clooney, who here withholds from his audience the warm and witty persona he normally projects, and presents us instead with an ice-cold hitman called Jack, whose career has just suffered the most calamitous reversal. At first, like a gnarled and careworn 007, Jack...
- 11/25/2010
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Anton Corbijn’s chilling, slow-burning thriller The American arrives in UK cinemas. And here’s why you should watch it…
Killing is a science, and assassination is an activity that is as much about planning and logistics as it is about the grim act itself. That’s the sentiment that lies at the heart of The American, Anton Corbijn’s slow-burning drama thriller.
Characters talk at length about the recoil of guns and the velocity of bullets, of sound suppression and the tolerances of tiny screws. Weapons are endlessly tested, fiddled with, re-adjusted and then tested again.
In two of The American’s most mesmerising scenes, George Clooney’s careworn assassin, Jack, snaps a sniper rifle together with infinite care, checking the action and movement of every individual part, before improvising his own makeshift silencer with the dexterity of a Swiss watchmaker.
Clooney’s Jack is a lonely, distant character who says little,...
Killing is a science, and assassination is an activity that is as much about planning and logistics as it is about the grim act itself. That’s the sentiment that lies at the heart of The American, Anton Corbijn’s slow-burning drama thriller.
Characters talk at length about the recoil of guns and the velocity of bullets, of sound suppression and the tolerances of tiny screws. Weapons are endlessly tested, fiddled with, re-adjusted and then tested again.
In two of The American’s most mesmerising scenes, George Clooney’s careworn assassin, Jack, snaps a sniper rifle together with infinite care, checking the action and movement of every individual part, before improvising his own makeshift silencer with the dexterity of a Swiss watchmaker.
Clooney’s Jack is a lonely, distant character who says little,...
- 11/25/2010
- Den of Geek
One of the few Hollywood A-listers to trammel the penury of independent cinema, George Clooney Ford Fiestas his way into the mountainous village of Castel del Monte following an attempt on his life, in his latest star-vehicle picture The American.
Unafraid to eschew romance for business in the most lethal manner, the paranoid assassin is sent by his handler Pavel (Johan Leysen) to lay low in the meandering hills of Italy whilst making preparations for another job. However, in such a small and peaceful town, an American, or L’Americano as he mistakenly hears, is worthy of gossip and his attempts to remain incognito do not last long, especially from the omnipresent, probing insight of the town priest Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonecelli) who himself has the hint of the sinner about him.
Eking as much romance and drama as possible between the thrills, Clooney, director Anton Corbijn, and screenwriter Rowan Joffe...
Unafraid to eschew romance for business in the most lethal manner, the paranoid assassin is sent by his handler Pavel (Johan Leysen) to lay low in the meandering hills of Italy whilst making preparations for another job. However, in such a small and peaceful town, an American, or L’Americano as he mistakenly hears, is worthy of gossip and his attempts to remain incognito do not last long, especially from the omnipresent, probing insight of the town priest Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonecelli) who himself has the hint of the sinner about him.
Eking as much romance and drama as possible between the thrills, Clooney, director Anton Corbijn, and screenwriter Rowan Joffe...
- 11/23/2010
- Shadowlocked
The same stillness and raw emotion exuded from Anton Corbijn's stellar debut film Control is in full view in the Clooney vehicle The American.
"Don't make any friends, you used to know that" says the handler Pavel (played heartlessly by Johan Leysen) to his employee, an assassin whose assumed identity is Jack (George Clooney) is told to retreat to a small Italian town after things go terribly wrong in Sweden, this is just the beginning as threats both external and otherwise pursue him. As he drives towards his inevitable fate, the grainy distance and shadows similar to that of a music video (Corbijn's speciality), but imbued with enough emotion and purpose that it fits together.
Jack is a cold, methodical killer. He has little qualm in shooting his lover, is loyal to his job and he deals with anything that comes his way with razor sharp precision. Jack is...
"Don't make any friends, you used to know that" says the handler Pavel (played heartlessly by Johan Leysen) to his employee, an assassin whose assumed identity is Jack (George Clooney) is told to retreat to a small Italian town after things go terribly wrong in Sweden, this is just the beginning as threats both external and otherwise pursue him. As he drives towards his inevitable fate, the grainy distance and shadows similar to that of a music video (Corbijn's speciality), but imbued with enough emotion and purpose that it fits together.
Jack is a cold, methodical killer. He has little qualm in shooting his lover, is loyal to his job and he deals with anything that comes his way with razor sharp precision. Jack is...
- 11/6/2010
- Screen Anarchy
This is the daily news vodcast from the London Film Festival on Pure Movies covering the gala premiere of The American, directed by Anton Corbijn and starring George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli, Irina Björklund, Björn Granath, Johan Leysen, Filippo Timi and Samuli Vauramo. This is a literary adaptation of Martin Booth’s A Very Private Gentleman and, as the title suggests, Clooney plays a character that is both enigmatic and elusive. In fact, he hardly talks. He has no women in his life and, from the opening scene, it is easy to see why this is the case. A priest attempts to befriend Jack (who now goes by Edward), while he finds company, solace and sex with a local prostitute called Clara. It is evident though that he is being tracked and his past seemingly instructs him to trust nobody and be suspicious of everyone, including people that he starts relationships with.
- 10/22/2010
- by Dan Higgins
- Pure Movies
This is a stylish vehicle for George Clooney as an ice-cold hitman, but it lacks thrills and spills
George Clooney returns, setting aside the warm and witty persona that his fans love, and giving them instead one of his darkest and most unsympathetic characters: an ice-cold professional killer marooned in loneliness and fear. The director is Anton Corbijn – the former photographer who made his brilliant feature debut with Control, a biopic of Joy Division's frontman, Ian Curtis – working from a screenplay by Rowan Joffe. It is adapted from the 1991 novel A Very Private Gentleman by Martin Booth, originally about a reserved Englishman abroad with a brutal and murderous secret.
The movie re-imagines this expatriate loner as an American. Clooney plays Jack, an assassin first seen hiding out with a beautiful companion in a Swedish forest cabin. This blissful scene is shattered by violence, and Jack demonstrates his utter ruthlessness both to his attackers,...
George Clooney returns, setting aside the warm and witty persona that his fans love, and giving them instead one of his darkest and most unsympathetic characters: an ice-cold professional killer marooned in loneliness and fear. The director is Anton Corbijn – the former photographer who made his brilliant feature debut with Control, a biopic of Joy Division's frontman, Ian Curtis – working from a screenplay by Rowan Joffe. It is adapted from the 1991 novel A Very Private Gentleman by Martin Booth, originally about a reserved Englishman abroad with a brutal and murderous secret.
The movie re-imagines this expatriate loner as an American. Clooney plays Jack, an assassin first seen hiding out with a beautiful companion in a Swedish forest cabin. This blissful scene is shattered by violence, and Jack demonstrates his utter ruthlessness both to his attackers,...
- 10/15/2010
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The American
***1/2
Directed by: Anton Corbijn
Starring: George Clooney, Irina Bjorklund, Johan Leysen, Paolo Bonacelli, The American, Violante Placido
Focus Features
Release Date: September 4, 2010
The cold and austere snow covered landscape that is immediately placed before us in Anton Corbijn’s “The American” is an opening that grabs our attention and also becomes a metaphor for representing the inner-being of our ruthless and cold-blooded killer, Jack (George Clooney), or does he go by Edward? It is this kind of ambiguity, uncertainty of past events that makes the film an exquisite think-piece. It is a thriller but does not have the same mission other thrillers have. The American possesses a mission that is essential to existentialism: It desires to find the soul of an unbalanced man.
Clooney embodies the indistinct killer, urging even more so the film toward a more mysterious atmosphere. Clooney is situated in a role that requires him...
***1/2
Directed by: Anton Corbijn
Starring: George Clooney, Irina Bjorklund, Johan Leysen, Paolo Bonacelli, The American, Violante Placido
Focus Features
Release Date: September 4, 2010
The cold and austere snow covered landscape that is immediately placed before us in Anton Corbijn’s “The American” is an opening that grabs our attention and also becomes a metaphor for representing the inner-being of our ruthless and cold-blooded killer, Jack (George Clooney), or does he go by Edward? It is this kind of ambiguity, uncertainty of past events that makes the film an exquisite think-piece. It is a thriller but does not have the same mission other thrillers have. The American possesses a mission that is essential to existentialism: It desires to find the soul of an unbalanced man.
Clooney embodies the indistinct killer, urging even more so the film toward a more mysterious atmosphere. Clooney is situated in a role that requires him...
- 9/9/2010
- by Three-D
- Geeks of Doom
Rating: 2.5/5
Writers: Rowan Joffe (screenplay), Martin Booth (novel)
Director: Anton Corbijn
Cast: George Clooney, Thekla Reuten, Violante Placido, Paolo Bonacelli, Johan Leysen
Studio: Focus Features
There should be no simpler formula for box office gold and critical acclaim than George Clooney, plus vague spy occupation, multiplied by Italian countryside, divided by two equally dangerous women. But what happens when our own leading man wants nothing more than to get away from said “vague spy occupation,” and everything else is just distraction from the crushing emptiness that amounts to a life of pursuit that only ends with, well, no reward. What awaits someone who has spent their entire life on the fringes of society and law? The American is not a Bourne-born spy flick with Clooney stalking through dark alleys, gun in hand, ease oozing from his being. It is a film about process, and timing, and the hazy in-between that accompanies both of them.
Writers: Rowan Joffe (screenplay), Martin Booth (novel)
Director: Anton Corbijn
Cast: George Clooney, Thekla Reuten, Violante Placido, Paolo Bonacelli, Johan Leysen
Studio: Focus Features
There should be no simpler formula for box office gold and critical acclaim than George Clooney, plus vague spy occupation, multiplied by Italian countryside, divided by two equally dangerous women. But what happens when our own leading man wants nothing more than to get away from said “vague spy occupation,” and everything else is just distraction from the crushing emptiness that amounts to a life of pursuit that only ends with, well, no reward. What awaits someone who has spent their entire life on the fringes of society and law? The American is not a Bourne-born spy flick with Clooney stalking through dark alleys, gun in hand, ease oozing from his being. It is a film about process, and timing, and the hazy in-between that accompanies both of them.
- 9/6/2010
- by Kate Erbland
- GordonandtheWhale
Title: The American Directed By: Anton Corbijn Starring: George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli, Johan Leysen When someone sneezes during a movie and another theatergoer a few seats away actually says, “God bless you,” it’s never a good sign - for the movie. You know what else isn’t a good sign? The man scratching his head incessantly in front of me, the four people who walked out, the woman a few seats over constantly checking the time on her phone and the man next to me counting the remaining Twizzlers in the bag as though they’re the last pieces left on earth and he’s got to make them last, [...]...
- 9/5/2010
- by Perri Nemiroff
- ShockYa
In the middle of the wintry landscape of a snow-covered cabin in the middle of Sweden, George Clooney contemplates with a lovely and vivacious companion (Irina Björklund). Having just spent the night together with only their bodies and a log fire to keep them warm, the two set off to a remote locale for a hike to let their lungs catch up to their hearts. Suddenly, they are ambushed, and Clooney’s character must reveal his deadly talents. He’s been found, and needs to take out the men sent to kill him. Worse yet, he realizes he has to disappear and leave behind what life he’s made. Clooney plays Jack in The American, a throwback film made for the cineastes, about a professional killer and know-it-all extraordinaire, assigned to do one last job while he hides from the Swedes in small countryside of Italy. Jack’s point man,...
- 9/4/2010
- by Ernie Estrella
- BuzzFocus.com
George Clooney stars as a brooding assassin in Anton Corbijn’s slow burning thriller, The American. Here’s Ron’s review…
George Clooney has locked onto a certain career path. Given that he's gray and in his 50s, he's taking on a lot of roles where, well, he's a man at a crossroads. Maybe he's a businessman who realizes that he's spent his lonely life on the road and now wants a family. Maybe he's a career criminal whose brother breaks him out of jail to kill vampires and kidnap Harvey Keitel and steal his Rv, only to realize that he wants a family.
Once again, George Clooney gets to play out his real life midlife crisis on screen in The American, only this time he gets to bed a beautiful Italian woman and drink a whole lot of watered-down espresso. Kind of like what he does every day, except...
George Clooney has locked onto a certain career path. Given that he's gray and in his 50s, he's taking on a lot of roles where, well, he's a man at a crossroads. Maybe he's a businessman who realizes that he's spent his lonely life on the road and now wants a family. Maybe he's a career criminal whose brother breaks him out of jail to kill vampires and kidnap Harvey Keitel and steal his Rv, only to realize that he wants a family.
Once again, George Clooney gets to play out his real life midlife crisis on screen in The American, only this time he gets to bed a beautiful Italian woman and drink a whole lot of watered-down espresso. Kind of like what he does every day, except...
- 9/2/2010
- Den of Geek
George Clooney's characters tend to be drawn from one of three wells, and only one at a time: wacky, charming, or distracted. He's usually able to imbue any of these with some modicum of the charisma that's made him a movie star, and when that magnetism and chosen persona combine with the right filmmaker, the result can be wonderful: the grinning idiot of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the sly con of Out of Sight, and the morally compromised soldier of Three Kings are as good examples as any. Yet it's usually the serious and distracted persona that gives Clooney the most trouble, or at least finds him furthest out on a limb with nothing supporting him but the director's whispered command to jump. The effortlessness he brings to other roles seems less accessible to him, as if he's suddenly all too aware of the fact that he has...
- 9/2/2010
- by Daniel Carlson
In “The American,” George Clooney, as we are constantly reminded, is playing an American. He is also playing a professional assassin. For the filmmakers, there is some kind of equivalency between being an American and being an assassin. Apparently there are no professional assassins who are not American.
Based on the Martin Booth novel “A Very Private Gentleman” and directed by Anton Corbijn from a screenplay by Rowan Joffe, “The American” is about a very private gentleman indeed. Clooney’s Jack doesn’t make friends easily because they tend to die when they’re around him. An unknowing girlfriend, for example, gets it between the eyes in the opening minutes, propelling Jack into hiding in a mountainside Italian village in Abruzzo. “Don’t make friends,” his handler reminds him…read more [The Christian Science Monitor]
Despite its promotion, The American is not exactly what you would call an action movie. That doesn’t make...
Based on the Martin Booth novel “A Very Private Gentleman” and directed by Anton Corbijn from a screenplay by Rowan Joffe, “The American” is about a very private gentleman indeed. Clooney’s Jack doesn’t make friends easily because they tend to die when they’re around him. An unknowing girlfriend, for example, gets it between the eyes in the opening minutes, propelling Jack into hiding in a mountainside Italian village in Abruzzo. “Don’t make friends,” his handler reminds him…read more [The Christian Science Monitor]
Despite its promotion, The American is not exactly what you would call an action movie. That doesn’t make...
- 9/2/2010
- by Allan Ford
- Filmofilia
The melancholic killer, the hooker with a heart of gold, the sinister boss pulling strings from afar, the man of the cloth confidant -- the deeper you get into "The American," the second film from Dutch photographer-turned-director Anton Corbijn, the more it seems like a moving museum of movie archetypes than anything that quite finds its own footing. Underneath the luster of its Euro tailoring, it's a subdued neo-Western run aground in an Italian hill town -- a neo-Spaghetti Western, then, a point underlined, should you have missed it, by a bartender pointing out the Sergio Leone film playing on his TV.
Fortunately, it has George Clooney, glowing at full movie star wattage in the role of Jack, sometimes Edward, who is as far as is gleanable an assassin ("you won't even have to pull the trigger," he's assured when coaxed into that always inauspicious one last job) and manufacturer...
Fortunately, it has George Clooney, glowing at full movie star wattage in the role of Jack, sometimes Edward, who is as far as is gleanable an assassin ("you won't even have to pull the trigger," he's assured when coaxed into that always inauspicious one last job) and manufacturer...
- 9/1/2010
- by Alison Willmore
- ifc.com
Having tried something professionally, succeeded in my ambitions and yet still somehow fallen short, I can empathize with Anton Corbijn. His new film, The American, feels like exactly the movie he wanted to make, and it also feels like the movie his investors and collaborators knew they were making. But it doesn't feel like the movie they thought they would get from doing exactly what they wanted, which is why audiences will probably feel like it's not the movie they want to see. Corbijn, who previously directed the elegant, tragic Ian Curtis biopic, has crafted an equally elegant film for his follow-up, but its only genuine tragedy is that it doesn't feel more, well, tragic, leaving The American relegated to the status of noble failure even as it delivers an otherwise pretty (and pretty familiar) thriller about an aging hitman.
George Clooney plays Jack, an assassin who knocks off his...
George Clooney plays Jack, an assassin who knocks off his...
- 9/1/2010
- by Todd Gilchrist
- Cinematical
Director: Anton Corbijn Writer: Rowan Joffe (screenplay), Martin Booth (novel) Starring: George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli Jack (George Clooney) is, by all accounts and purposes, an American. His career as an assassin is high risk but offers significant financial return. In other words: Jack, like all good 'mericans, likes guns and money. (There must be a Gang of Four reference somewhere around here...) Jack tries to forget history, living life only in the present; Jack also seems to expect that others will forget his past as well. (Note: The American utilizes Jack to symbolize the United States just as The Quiet American utilizes Pyle.) The American begins in a tranquil and secluded snowbound cabin in Sweden where it seems Jack believes (or at least hopes) he has left his career behind. Unfortunately for Jack, his past catches up with him and he soon finds himself on the run again.
- 9/1/2010
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
By Anthony D’Alessandro
HollywoodNews.com: Despite his good looks and accessible leading man aura, George Clooney’s canon is comprised of social outsiders and in certain cases, as in his latest hypnotic thriller “The American” — nomads.
And to Clooney’s credit as an actor, he doesn’t get bogged down by the Hollywood system whereby his credits live and die by the strength of their box office openings. Clooney is allowed to stretch as a thespian and stretch he does in Anton Corbijn’s razor-sharp thriller about a Yank assassin who hides from Swedish killers in the medieval hilltop towns of Abruzzo, Italy. Filling the screen with his steely, pensive, puppy-dog looks, Clooney’s Jack — who goes by two aliases, Edward to his Italian g.f. and “Mr. Butterfly” to everyone else — is a man of few words; his small talk literally rivaling that of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cyborg in “Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
HollywoodNews.com: Despite his good looks and accessible leading man aura, George Clooney’s canon is comprised of social outsiders and in certain cases, as in his latest hypnotic thriller “The American” — nomads.
And to Clooney’s credit as an actor, he doesn’t get bogged down by the Hollywood system whereby his credits live and die by the strength of their box office openings. Clooney is allowed to stretch as a thespian and stretch he does in Anton Corbijn’s razor-sharp thriller about a Yank assassin who hides from Swedish killers in the medieval hilltop towns of Abruzzo, Italy. Filling the screen with his steely, pensive, puppy-dog looks, Clooney’s Jack — who goes by two aliases, Edward to his Italian g.f. and “Mr. Butterfly” to everyone else — is a man of few words; his small talk literally rivaling that of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cyborg in “Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
- 8/31/2010
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Hollywoodnews.com
This is the trailer for The American, directed by Anton Corbijn and starring George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli, Irina Björklund, Björn Granath, Johan Leysen, Filippo Timi and Samuli Vauramo. Academy Award winner George Clooney stars in the title role of this suspense thriller, filmed on location in Italy. Alone among assassins, Jack (played by Mr. Clooney) is a master craftsman. When a job in Sweden ends more harshly than expected for this American abroad, he vows to his contact 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 (Thekla Reuten of "In Bruges"), is in the offing as a weapon is constructed. Surprising himself, Jack seeks out the friendship of local priest Father Benedetto (Italian stage...
- 8/13/2010
- by Dan Higgins
- Pure Movies
We'll never know just how many films out there have been salvaged by re-shoots, but like a changed release date, it's far easier to view these tweaks as an omen. After all, if things had been going so well, why didn't they get it right the first time around, hmmmm?
If rumors and rumblings are to be believed, Focus Features didn't get their first look at the most recent cut of The American -- director Anton Corbijn's follow-up to his acclaimed debut, Control -- until this week. That is to say, a mere month out from its North American bow.
Despite that studio, that street cred and a starring turn by George "Return of the Killer Tomatoes" Clooney, it's not making an appearance at any of the prominent fall festivals, and just last month, Corbijn himself was blogging about the inclusion of Johan Leysen in these new scenes.
That is to say,...
If rumors and rumblings are to be believed, Focus Features didn't get their first look at the most recent cut of The American -- director Anton Corbijn's follow-up to his acclaimed debut, Control -- until this week. That is to say, a mere month out from its North American bow.
Despite that studio, that street cred and a starring turn by George "Return of the Killer Tomatoes" Clooney, it's not making an appearance at any of the prominent fall festivals, and just last month, Corbijn himself was blogging about the inclusion of Johan Leysen in these new scenes.
That is to say,...
- 8/3/2010
- by William Goss
An English-language winner featured in the second Hungarian Film Festival of Los Angeles, "The Gambler" (screening tonight at Laemmle's Music Hall) stars Michael Gambon as Fyodor Dostoevsky as he faces a write-or-perish dilemma in St. Petersburg in 1866.
In Karoly Makk's conservatively directed but involving 1997 drama based on a true story in the Russian novelist's remarkable life, the bearishly sexual, unpredictably epileptic and all-around self-destructive future writer of "Crime and Punishment" is saved from ruin and a dead-end career by his inspired stenographer, Anna Grigoryevna Snitkina (Jodhi May).
With one month to write a novel or sign away his earnings to a venomous publisher (Tom Jansen), convinced-he's-a-failure Dostoevsky rallies under the initially cautious and professional but soon genuinely caring attentions of Anna.
While distractions abound and Fyodor has an awful mean streak, his well-observed tale of a young gambler (Dominic West) in the midst of an orgy of roulette playing and backstabbing hooks Anna and the viewer, with the film alternating between the fictional and real worlds.
Two-time Oscar winner Luise Rainer appears on screen for the first time in 55 years as the controlling grandmother of West's character in the story within a story. In several exciting sequences, she gets the wild look of a gambler on a streak of incredible good fortune and, despite overuse of slow-motion and editing to build tension, Makk splendidly captures the delirium and brutal shocks of winning and losing.
Notwithstanding their differences in age, his furious temper and the pressures of creating a whole novel in mere weeks -- with her taking dictation, then translating her shorthand and copying out the manuscript by hand -- Anna and Fyodor fall in love. In a fine performance, May ("The Last of the Mohicans") has a pale strength and beauty that tames the tattered literary lion, while Gambon is terrific in one of his best roles.
THE GAMBLER
UGC DA International and Channel Four Films
in association with Hungry Eye Pictures and KRO Drama
A Marc Vlessing production
Director: Karoly Makk
Producers: Charles Cohen, Marc Vlessing
Screenwriters: Katharine Ogden, Charles Cohen, Nick Dear
Director of photography: Jules van den Steenhoven
Production designer: Ben van Os
Editor: Kevin Whelan
Costume designer: Dien van Straalen
Music: Brian Lock
Casting: Celestia Fox
Color/stereo
Cast:
Fyodor Dostoevsky: Michael Gambon
Anna: Jodhi May
Alex: Dominic West
Stellovsky: Tom Jansen
Grandmother: Luise Rainer
Polyna: Polly Walker
General: John Wood
De Jriex: Johan Leysen
Blanche: Angeline Ball
Running time -- 99 minutes
No MPAA rating...
In Karoly Makk's conservatively directed but involving 1997 drama based on a true story in the Russian novelist's remarkable life, the bearishly sexual, unpredictably epileptic and all-around self-destructive future writer of "Crime and Punishment" is saved from ruin and a dead-end career by his inspired stenographer, Anna Grigoryevna Snitkina (Jodhi May).
With one month to write a novel or sign away his earnings to a venomous publisher (Tom Jansen), convinced-he's-a-failure Dostoevsky rallies under the initially cautious and professional but soon genuinely caring attentions of Anna.
While distractions abound and Fyodor has an awful mean streak, his well-observed tale of a young gambler (Dominic West) in the midst of an orgy of roulette playing and backstabbing hooks Anna and the viewer, with the film alternating between the fictional and real worlds.
Two-time Oscar winner Luise Rainer appears on screen for the first time in 55 years as the controlling grandmother of West's character in the story within a story. In several exciting sequences, she gets the wild look of a gambler on a streak of incredible good fortune and, despite overuse of slow-motion and editing to build tension, Makk splendidly captures the delirium and brutal shocks of winning and losing.
Notwithstanding their differences in age, his furious temper and the pressures of creating a whole novel in mere weeks -- with her taking dictation, then translating her shorthand and copying out the manuscript by hand -- Anna and Fyodor fall in love. In a fine performance, May ("The Last of the Mohicans") has a pale strength and beauty that tames the tattered literary lion, while Gambon is terrific in one of his best roles.
THE GAMBLER
UGC DA International and Channel Four Films
in association with Hungry Eye Pictures and KRO Drama
A Marc Vlessing production
Director: Karoly Makk
Producers: Charles Cohen, Marc Vlessing
Screenwriters: Katharine Ogden, Charles Cohen, Nick Dear
Director of photography: Jules van den Steenhoven
Production designer: Ben van Os
Editor: Kevin Whelan
Costume designer: Dien van Straalen
Music: Brian Lock
Casting: Celestia Fox
Color/stereo
Cast:
Fyodor Dostoevsky: Michael Gambon
Anna: Jodhi May
Alex: Dominic West
Stellovsky: Tom Jansen
Grandmother: Luise Rainer
Polyna: Polly Walker
General: John Wood
De Jriex: Johan Leysen
Blanche: Angeline Ball
Running time -- 99 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/21/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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