Film Fest

The latest viewing: The American with George Cloony... who just gets more and more impressive as an actor, I think.

A subtle, slow-moving film, especially for a thriller.  But that's not "slow" in a bad way...  The body count is lower than in a Hollywood assassin film - this is the anti-Hollywood assassin film.  Much less happens too, but the deaths have actual weight.  Especially one of the early kills, which changes the rules and makes Cloony's character and the rest of the film more dangerous, more troubling.  There's a deep, sinister drum soundtrack too foreboding for my nerves and a knack of photographing an empty room or street to give this audience, at least, the jumps.  Gorgeous photography.  Beautiful Swedish snow then, later, stony Italian hill towns.  Sad empty cafes with the loneliness of a Hopper painting.

Bleak.  Alienated. Paranoid.  Heart-breakingly beautiful.  Sad.