[critical] The American

Jack is a killer skillful and experienced. Always alert, he has no home. When a mission goes wrong and cost him the life of the woman he loves, he made the promise that his next contract will be the last.

This is the ultimate mission led him in a picturesque Italian village nestled in high hills. But for Jack, each place may prove to be a trap and every person a threat. However, it takes a taste for confidences exchanged around an armagnac with the priest of the village, and lets himself be drawn into a liaison with a beautiful Italian. But by lowering the guard, Jack might be taking a risk.

A threat seems to get closer, and the mysterious woman who hired him is perhaps not what it claims. While Jack, more and more suspicious, plans to live, love and die in Italy, the tension builds up to the confrontation ultimate, in the maze of steep streets of the village.

Author’s Note

[rating:7/10]

• Release Date : October 27, 2010

• Directed by Anton Corbijn

• Film american

• With George Clooney, Thekla Reuten, Bruce Altman

• Duration : 1h 43minutes

• Trailer :

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Anton Corbijn. This name does maybe not much and for good reason, this name does not resound still in our heads as the testimony of an absolute success and indisputable. And yet, in only two films, the Dutch director has earned its place among the young directors, to monitor very closely. This second film, The American, confirms his talent and his ability to mix the charm of the cinema of old, with a conviction and a force that set the scene perfectly rooted in the modern era.

Dealing with a topic as difficult to stage as the killer’s lonely being suddenly a consciousness and dreaming of freedom, The American immediately seduces by the quality of his film. It is clearly in front of something other than a popular movie enjoying even before its release the large notes that he will collect. The plans are visually beautiful and long speeches barbants leave place to a silence almost monastic worth nearly alone displacement. It is without a doubt to accentuate these long silences thatAnton Corbijn has opted for an original soundtrack is minimalist at best. Everything is done so that one focuses on the psychology of this man’s bestial and lonely brilliantly played by George Clooney. The latter happens to bring the poetry and the brutality necessary to convince us that this man is neither a saint nor a monster capable of killing in cold blood. It is by seeing this kind of movies in which he burst onto the screen as it is understood that, yes, George Clooney is an actor worthy of the name and not just a pretty face we are selling coffee, or squabbling with his buddies on the sets. The actor manages to carry almost alone the film on these shoulders. Let’s say that even if the supporting roles are very interesting to watch them evolve, it is the kick into touch in one stroke.

Unfortunately, as with his previous film, Control, Anton Corbijn could not help but avoid the skid in the last bend. The fault of what ? Just a scenario that lovers of the topic will think they know on the fingertips from the first seconds and they will, unfortunately, not wrong, because the movie takes us on the trails, watched and re-watched hundreds of times. So yes it is well led but a slight dissatisfaction can not help but invite themselves to the party. And this is certainly not the end nailed in advance that we will say to the contrary. Damage.

In the end, The American is a good film that just missed out on excellence. Where a Jim Jarmusch excels with ease, Anton Corbijn shows us is that far from lacking in talent, ingenuity and there is lack especially cruelly bottle for the moment. Let’s say that it is the teeth for the time for us to come back even more powerful the next time. Wait and see.