Just know you will be well served by not asking why, when, who, or where.
The makers of The American clearly decided not to burden the audience with the
defining elements of modern movies. They have eliminated dialogue, plot, and
backstory and have given us instead a film rich in atmosphere and production.
They took a big risk, and they won.
We learn at
the outset that the American (George Clooney) has been ordered to build a
task-specific weapon "with the firepower of a machine gun and the range of a
rifle" that will fit in a small briefcase. We are not told why or what it will
be used for. Neither do we know who employs the American or who is running the
agents who deliver his instructions. It would be charitable to assume that in
the intelligence game - whether it is played by governments or the underworld -
operational details are revealed only on an "eyes only" basis to persons with a
"need to know." The audience is not included in that equation. Just know you
will be well served by not asking why, when, who, or where.
The movie
starts in Sweden's cold winter where we meet the American as he walks with his
companion across a vast frozen lake. We are given an awful shock on that lake.
In marvelous contrast, the action quickly shifts to sunny Italy, to an old
country village built into a rocky hillside, its parts connected by ancient
cobbled stairways and alleys. The village sits in the isolation of a barren
countryside. As the American drives his Fiat along the winding roads with a
superbly spare score playing in the background, the landscape becomes a main
character in the film.
As to the
characters, there really is just one: George Clooney's American, who is known
variously, though only occasionally, as Jack or Edward or Mr. Butterfly. He is
attended by several beautiful prostitutes - all armed and possibly dangerous -
who appear from nowhere to deliver instructions and physical pleasure.
Unfortunately, they look confusingly alike, but what counts is that Mr.
Butterfly can tell the difference. In a role that asks her to give her all with
few words, Violante Placido still manages to become a full character.
This movie is
a study in silence of George Clooney, actor. Forced by his role to erase any
trace of the innate charm that makes him such fun to watch, he gives us instead
a perfectionist at work, a frightened man, an agent under orders who must grasp
and react to every random sound he hears. There is a lot of pondering going on
here - by the characters of each other (because they know nothing) and by the
audience of the characters (same pickle). When you know nothing, staying in the
moment is all you have. And suddenly we realize the conventional elements of
plot and dialogue would have been mere distractions to this stone cold character
study. What a trick. I loved this movie.
Copyright (c) Illusion