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The American

United States

2010

104 Min

Color

2.35:1

Italian, English

Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
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PROD Anne Carey, George Clooney, Jill Green, Grant Heslov, Ann Wingate

CAST George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli, Irina Björklund, Filippo Timi, Bruce Altman, Samuli Vauramo, Björn Gunnarsson, Jeffrey Feingold

MUSIC Herbert Grönemeyer

London (Film on the Square), San Sebastián (American Way of Death)

Synopsis

Academy Award winner George Clooney stars in the title role of this suspense thriller, filmed on location in Italy. Alone among assassins, Jack (played by Mr. Clooney) is a master craftsman. When a job in Sweden ends more harshly than expected for this American abroad, he vows to his contact that his next assignment will be his last. Jack reports to the Italian countryside, where he holes up in a small town and relishes being away from death for a spell. The assignment, as specified by a Belgian woman, Mathilde (Thekla Reuten of “In Bruges”), is in the offing as a weapon is constructed. Surprising himself, Jack seeks out the friendship of local priest Father Benedetto (Italian stage and screen veteran Paolo Bonacelli) and pursues romance with local woman Clara (Italian leading lady Violante Placido). But by stepping out of the shadows, Jack may be tempting fate.

Director

Anton Corbijn

Anton Corbijn (Dutch pronunciation: [kɔrˈbɛin]; born 20 May 1955) is a Dutch photographer, music video and film director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2, having handled the principal promotion and sleeve photography for both for more than a decade. Some of his works include music videos for Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” (1990) and Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” (1993), as well as the Ian Curtis biopic Control.

Corbijn made his feature film debut with Control, a film about the life of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis. It premiered to rave reviews at the Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2007. The film is based on Deborah Curtis’ book Touching From a Distance about her late husband and the biography Torn Apart by Lindsay Reade (Tony Wilson’s ex-wife) and Mick Middles. Although shown outside the Palme d’Or competition, Control was the big winner of the Director’s Fortnight winning the CICAE Art &… read more

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Lucas Silva

1May12

GREAT ACTION!

longstreth

30Mar12

A fairly taut thriller that suffers from a bit too much symbolism (and the award for Best Supporting Actor goes to... The Butterfly!), a few pointless characters, and a weak ending. All the same, it's not a bad film, and you can see Corbijn's other profession shining through.

billy c.

9Mar12

Beautifully shot but forgettable story. Some odd lighting choices near the middle of the film.

albertofarina

6Mar12

Non bad at all - but somewhat thin on plotting and character development. If this did not showcase an American star film, we'd probably dismiss it as a pretentious experiment in genre lacking rythm and guts. Great opening sequence.

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Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.

Senses of Cinema 57, Lists, More

By David Hudson on December 20, 2010

Editor Ronald Caputo notes that many of the articles appearing in the new issue of Senses of Cinema were first presented as papers at the Cinema

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Anton Corbijn's "The American"

By David Hudson on September 1, 2010

"'Bourne meets Antonioni!' is not a marketer's dream tagline," notes Mark Olsen in the Voice, and not without some degree of sympathy for

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Movie Poster of the Week: "The American"

By Adrian Curry on June 18, 2010

The dynamic new poster for Anton Corbijn’s The American is a clever pastiche of mid 60s action movie posters that trumpets its hipness (would

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The American review

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011

The same stillness and raw emotion exuded from Anton Corbijn’s stellar debut film Control is in full view in the Clooney vehicle The American. “Don’t make any friends, you used to know that” says the

→ read on Twitchfilm.com

London 2010: THE AMERICAN review

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011

The American, Anton Corbijn’s second feature, stars George Clooney in perhaps his least Clooney-esque appearance yet, as a gunsmith struggling to leave his murky past behind. An undeniable screen presence

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London 2010: THE AMERICAN Review

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011

[Our thanks to Shelagh Rowan-Legg for the following review.]The second feature film from famed music photographer Anton Cobijn, The American follows Jack (played by George Clooney), an assassin whose attempts

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Review of Anton Corbijn's THE AMERICAN

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011

Of all the visual metaphors for sexual tension, I am surprised that this one has not been done before (feel free to correct me if I am wrong): A woman slowly, but efficiently assembles a heavily caliber

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George Clooney Stars In Anton Corbijn's Hitman Drama THE AMERICAN

By Twitchfilm.com on April 29, 2011

Remember the days when Anton Corbijn was telling people that Ian Curtis bio-pic Control was the only movie he would ever direct? The only movie he ever wanted to direct? Yeah, that was a lie. And I’m okay

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The Focus Features Marketing Dept Goes One For Two On Their New AMERICAN Materials.

By Twitchfilm.com on April 29, 2011

Hey there, marketing lads! Nice job on the new poster for Anton Corbijn’s The American. Slick. Stylish. Timeless, yet unique. Very nice. I like.The new trailer, however? Ugh. The first trailer was a lovely

→ read on Twitchfilm.com