The mind of Anton Corbijn is one of a sought-after portrait photographer for over 35 years, an acclaimed director of music videos, a graphic designer of record covers and posters and a stage designer for the alternative band Depeche Mode. All those talents come together for "The American," an existentialist thriller starring George Clooney in the title role, an assassin who unexpectedly discovers remorse while on a job in a remote Italian village. "The American" is only Corbijn's second feature after his directing debut with the beautiful and sad 2008 Joy Division biopic "Control." While it’s disappointing that Corbijn has waited so long to direct features; imagine his body of work if he had switched earlier; he continues to make the most of his artful, much-appreciated arrival.
Jack (Clooney) is an assassin who retreats to Italy after a job at a secluded cabin in Sweden turns out badly. He's sent by his mysterious employer to wait things out in a small medieval town in the Abruzzo region of Italy and construct a custom rifle for a mysterious client, an attractive woman named Mathilde (Thekla Reuten). While settling into quiet village life, Jack befriends the local priest Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli) and starts an unexpected romance with the local prostitute, Clara (Violante Placido).
Jack has come to the village for a final “job” but perhaps he can start a new life with new relationships. Unfortunately, his deadly past catches up with him and someone will have to pay a heavy price.
George Clooney stars in the title role and it’s his most solemn, most restrained role to date, even darker than his acclaimed performance in the legal thriller “Michael Clayton.” Clooney’s many fans may cry out that Corbijn and screenwriter Rowan Joffe don’t give the charismatic Clooney enough dialogue but I enjoy watching Clooney act as solid and silent as Gary Cooper in “High Noon.”
Clooney’s restraint is pitch perfect because “The American” is more like a Western than a “Bourne Identity” assassin adventure. Instead of elaborate gun battles and explosions, Corbijn builds suspense through a medieval town’s mazelike streets and alleys, isolated mountain roads and in the most beautiful sequence in the film, a tense meeting at a stark roadside café between Jack and Mathilde.
Italian actress Violante Placido is both beautiful and supportive as Clara, a woman who sees Jack’s darkside and believes she can help him. Paolo Bonacelli, who played the Duke in Pier Paolo Pasolini's landmark film “Salo or 120 Days of Sodom,” makes the most of his brief scenes as the village priest who befriends Jack. Thekla Reuten crackles with cool tension as Mathilde, an ambitious woman who wants to follow in Jack’s footsteps and perhaps supplant him as a leading assassin.
Rowan Joffe, who recently completed production on his first feature, “Brighton Rock,” makes full use of the emotional themes regarding regret and redemption throughout the source novel "A Very Private Gentleman" by Martin Booth.
Costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb makes Clooney into a menacing figure with a simple and non-decript wardrobe. Production designer Mark Digby makes beautiful use of the mountaintop villages. Cameraman Martin Ruhe, like Anton Corbijn, comes from a background of music videos in addition to collaborating with Corbijn on the film "Control." Few films can claim the magical portrayal of light and shadow that Ruhe provides in “The American.”
Leading the way is Anton Corbijn, who’s brave enough to cast Clooney in a character-motivated thriller instead of the action or stunt motivated thriller most audiences would prefer. "The American" is every bit as beautiful as his directing debut "Control,” and like the wonderful movie is destined to become a favorite with a small, select audience.
There’s another exciting thing about Corbijn, considering that he comes from the world of photography. He's a rather new filmmaker who has convinced George Clooney to try something he hasn’t done before and helps him achieve the task brilliantly. So Corbijn is one of those rare filmmakers who’s as skilled with people as he is with camera lenses.
4 out of 5 stars
Distributor: Focus Features
Director: Anton Corbijn
Scriptwriter: Rowan Joffe, from the novel "A Very Private Gentleman" by Martin Booth
Cinematographer: Martin Ruhe
Editor: Andrew Hulme
Production Designer: Mark Digby
Costume Designer: Suttirat Anne Larlarb
Cast: George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli
Running Time: 105 minutes
Producers: This is that, Greenlit and Smokehouse Productions
Rating: Rated R
Release Date: September 1, 2010
