The American (2010 film)
| The American | |
|---|---|
| File:TheAmerican2010Poster.jpg Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Anton Corbijn |
| Written by | Rowan Joffe |
| Story by | Martin Booth (novel) |
| Produced by | George Clooney Grant Heslov Anne Carey Jill Green Ann Wingate |
| Starring | George Clooney Violante Placido Thekla Reuten Paolo Bonacelli Irina Björklund |
| Cinematography | Martin Ruhe |
| Edited by | Andrew Hulme |
| Music by | Herbert Grönemeyer |
Production companies | Smokehouse Pictures This Is That Inc. Greenlit Productions |
| Distributed by | Focus Features |
Release date |
|
Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | Template:FilmUS |
| Languages | English Italian |
| Budget | $20 million[1] |
| Box office | $61,363,942 (worldwide)[2] |
The American is a 2010 American thriller film directed by Anton Corbijn and starring George Clooney, Thekla Reuten, Violante Placido, Irina Björklund, and Paolo Bonacelli.[3] It is an adaptation of the 1990 novel A Very Private Gentleman by Martin Booth. The film opened on September 1, 2010, the trailer for the film having been released four months earlier.
Plot
Jack (George Clooney), a custom arms maker, is relaxing in a remote cabin in Sweden with his lover, Ingrid (Irina Björklund). As they walk on a frozen lake, Jack detects a sniper, who opens fire as the couple run to safety. Jack kills the sniper and then Ingrid, as well as another armed man on a nearby road. He then flees to Rome where he contacts an associate named Pavel. Pavel insists that Jack cannot stay in Rome and gives him the keys of a Fiat Tempra and sends him to Castelvecchio, a small town in the mountains of Abruzzo. Jack becomes nervous, and, disposing of the cell phone which Pavel had given him, flees to nearby Castel del Monte.
While he is hiding out there, Jack is befriended by an elderly priest, Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli), who pressures him to seek absolution, something which Jack, now going by the name Edward and posing as a photographer, resists. Jack contacts Pavel, who sets him up with another job. He meets with a woman, Mathilde (Thekla Reuten), who wants him to build a custom-designed sniper rifle for an assassination. After a detailed discussion they agree that not only would the weapon have a sound suppressor and the magazine capacity of a submachine gun, but that it would also be compact enough to fit in a briefcase after being dismantled. Jack then begins meticulous work on the weapon - a Ruger Mini-14 semi or fully-automatic carbine with folding stock, which he has mail-ordered to him disguised as photographer's supplies. After accurizing this rifle and mounting a sound suppressor that Jack has made from materials he picked up from the auto repair shop of one of Father Benedetto's bastard sons, he balances the weapon so it can be fired accurately offhand. He also starts patronizing a prostitute, Clara (Violante Placido). Jack meets with Mathilde to test the weapon he has made. Mathilde is impressed by the accuracy and relative silence of the weapon. But she seems unfamiliar with the Ruger brand (American) and she asks that Jack make a few more alterations.
While having coffee one day, Jack bumps into Clara and a friend. Clara invites him on an actual date, and the two begin to deepen their relationship. Later that night, Jack realizes that he is being followed by the same people who tried to kill him in Sweden. An assassin follows him, but Jack notices, ambushes, and then kills the assassin as he flees. After the incident, Jack begins to become suspicious of Clara when he finds a gun in her purse and sees her meeting with some men. He takes her on a picnic, where he confronts her about her pistol. Clara explains that she has the gun because of a number of assaults on prostitutes which have occurred in the area, and that the men were cops investigating the case.
After talking to Pavel one last time, Jack agrees to deliver the weapon to Mathilde as his last job, but at the last moment he re-opens the briefcase and modifies the rifle one more time. At the drop off, Jack becomes suspicious that Mathilde plans to kill him when she excuses herself to go to the bathroom. Before anything can happen, a busload of school children arrives, giving Jack cover, and the two go their separate ways. While driving away, Mathilde is contacted by Pavel, who asks if she has killed Jack. She informs him no but insists that she is following Jack and will kill him.
Jack meets Clara in the crowd at a local religious procession. He asks her to go away with him and she joyfully agrees. Meanwhile, Mathilde is lurking on a nearby rooftop, with Jack in the sights of the weapon he has just delivered to her. However, when she tries to shoot at him, the weapon misfires from his earlier tampering with it, grievously wounding Mathilde. Jack, hearing the rifle shot, tells Clara to go to the place where they had picnicked and wait for him. He runs to and confronts Mathilde, dying on the pavement, and asks her who she works for. Before Mathilde dies from her wound, she answers Jack's question: "The same man as you... Jack." After she dies, Jack leaves.
As he leaves he notices he is being followed by Pavel, who had arrived earlier. Pavel opens fire, but Jack whips around and fatally shoots Pavel. As Jack drives desperately to meet Clara, he realizes blood is flowing freely from a bullet wound in his abdomen. As he arrives at the picnic spot, Clara smiles with joy, but Jack collapses across the steering wheel. The camera pans in the direction of some trees, where a small, white butterfly ascends toward the sky.
Cast
- George Clooney as Jack/Edward
- Violante Placido as Clara
- Thekla Reuten as Mathilde
- Paolo Bonacelli as Father Benedetto
- Irina Björklund as Ingrid
- Johan Leysen as Pavel
Music
The film score was written and composed by German singer-songwriter (and longtime friend of Anton Corbijn) Herbert Grönemeyer. Grönemeyer is also famous for his role in the German film Das Boot (1981). A 1967 hit song called "Window of My Eyes" by the Dutch blues band Cuby and the Blizzards is played over the ending credits. The aria "Un Bel Di Vedremo" from Puccini's Madame Butterfly can be heard in the background of one scene.
Locations
Filming took place in Castel del Monte, Abruzzo(AQ), Rome, Sulmona, Campo Imperatore and Östersund, Jämtland among other locations.
Marketing
The first official poster was released on June 17. The first trailer was attached to Robin Hood and the second official trailer on June 19, 2010 and was attached to Jonah Hex, Grown Ups, Inception and The Other Guys.[4][5]
Reception
Critical reaction
The American received a mixed to generally positive response from critics, garnering a 65% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 132 reviews with an average score of 6.3/10. [6] Its consensus states "As beautifully shot as it is emotionally restrained, The American is an unusually divisive spy thriller—and one that rests on an unusually subdued performance from George Clooney." [6] Similiarily, another review aggretator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating from 0-100 of top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 62 based on 35 reviews. [7] Rolling Stone's Peter Travers gave the film two and a half stars, writing director Anton Corbijn "holds his film to a steady, often glacial pace", and is of "startling austerity".[8]
Roger Ebert gave the film four stars, writing, "Here is a gripping film with the focus of a Japanese drama, an impenetrable character to equal Alain Delon's in "Le Samourai," by Jean-Pierre Melville."[9] Leonard Maltin called it a "slowly-paced, European-style mood piece, short on dialogue and action and long on atmosphere" and a "thoughtful, intelligent film".[10]
Box Office
The film grossed $13.1 million opening at #1, ahead of Machete which grossed $11.4 million on the Labor Day weekend. As of September 5, the film has grossed $16,114,000. In the U.S. it grossed $35,606,376 as of October 31, 2010 and a total of $59,939,634 worldwide.[2]
Home Media
The film will be released 28 December 2010.
References
- ^ Fritz, Ben (September 2, 2010). "Movie projector: 'Machete,' 'Going the Distance' and 'The American' go head-to-head-to-head". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
- ^ a b "The American (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-20-02.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Kaufman, Amy (May 5, 2010). "Preview review: Clooney goes dark in 'The American'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
- ^ "The American Official Poster". The Film Stage. June 17, 2010. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
{{cite web}}: External link in|work= - ^ "The American Official Trailer #2". The Film Stage. June 19, 2010. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
{{cite web}}: External link in|work= - ^ a b "The American Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ "The American Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ "The American". rollingstone.com. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
- ^ "The American (R)". rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
- ^ "film review: The American". blogs.indiewire.com. Retrieved September 6, 2010.