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I've just got to say - I LOVE THE BEEB for allowing access to the film reviews footage when it was previously unaccessable to Australians on this website. And I love this review because it shows Kermode and Mayo at their best of complementarity. Excellent work guys.

saw it at the weekend, i really enjoyed it

it's jumped into my top 10 films of the year

beautifully shot, quite retro, nice rhythm to the film, minimal dialogue, clooney is excellent

quite similar to the passenger

So what's the Clooney equivalent of the 3 B's of Richard Gere?

Sorry to hijack this thread somewhat but... ['DEITY']on a bike! Leslie Nielsen died :-(

(Oh, and the guy who directed the best Star Wars film died as well...)

So it goes...

(Poo-tee-weet?)

Michael Clayton has become a real favourite of mine and I love re-watching it. The characterisations and tone are great and Clooney really does unspoken angst so well.

I agree that a cliché pops up here and there. But I "forgave" the film this as I just think it's a solid piece... It really worked for me, regardless, as I sat there watching it feeling a lot of involvement and my hands were sweaty as the tension rised up... So I think Mark is spot on when he says that the film manages to breath life into the story despite what clichés it uses. *nods*

I probably would have passed this one over if it weren't for having an interest in Anton Corbijn. Control is unarguably his better film, but to The American's credit, you do get what you pay for. It's a standard but likable thriller and a well-made one at that. I can't say that my mind was blown, but I did leave the theater satisfied.

It's an interesting point about the interest of cinema in craftsmanship. I've never really thought about it much before just now, but it is true, isn't it?

I think it must be connected to the comfort of ritual. It's like praying.

I just saw this, I really enjoyed it. It felt similar to The limits of Control from last year but it was much more engaging. The film isnt for everyone but I liked it a lot and it really picks up from about half way through.

As you described the plot device of, "somebody has to lie low in a small town and wait for further developments", my first thought was "In Bruges".
If it works half as well as that, it should be worth a look... but I bet it isn't half as funny.

I saw The American when it was released in Germany in September and - having seen Control - was disappointed.

Without a doubt there are some good things: George Clooney delivers a strong performance. The cinematography is excellent: There are some great shots of Italy as it has not often been seen on the screen (not the usual Florence, Tuscany, Venice etc. Ambiente).

But the pacing was very slow... and this did not work here. Despite the good performances i could not really connect with the main or any of the other characters.

The trailer sells it as an actionpacked thriller which gives a completly wrong impression. An audience with an expectation like this will be deeply bored.

Thanks Dr. K. for referencing Soderbergh's Solaris, it prompted me to watch it, finally, and it is an excellent film.

Of course there is now a horrible element of self-hatred at having enjoyed a US remake; although I will dare to admit that I preferred The Departed to Infernal Affairs... So, is Tarkovskiy's versions a must see?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Just back from watching The American and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. Well acted, beautifully shot with a measured pace, which I felt worked just fine. The film has a certain flow to it and was also able to develop a real sense of foreboding at key moments.

I think Dr K may have been a little harsh in singling out The American for criticisms of cliché. Yes, they are there, but the film is more than good enough to rise above these issues and if you look at the majority of Hollywood features, then all but a few follow a fairly set series of narrative arcs.

I seem to remember reading a quote (I forget from whom) that said there were only two type of movie - "A man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town."

Definitely worth a look. Next Monsters!

@elkoolio01 I think that all of Tarkovsky's films are worth seeing - truly fantastic things.

Jesus-aitch samuels, Mark: You have caught me watching Clowdia whatever this excuse for a film review this 'Fantastically dark film brilliant asphalt brutallly beautiful tender guy-force (=-_+) tends to be...I can't believe that you neglected to partner with fringe-girl: she's the most bi-furious girl yet.

Dear Mayo & Kermode,

I'm a 23 year old music student in Manchester and I have just had the worst experience EVER in the cinema - which was even more bloody frustrating as The American is one of the most engaging and interesting films that has been released for years - in my opinion.
I shan't name the cinema in question, but its one of those evil multi-plex cinemas in the city centre just opposite Deansgate train station!
It all started when I paid a total of £12 for my girlfriend and I to sit in dirty chairs that weren't clean and smelt of damp dog.
Before I knew it, the cinema was cram packed for the film, which did surprise me as I thought most people were into Harry Potter and vampire films!
Then everyones mobile phones came out - and the nachos - and the popcorn - and the slurps of watered down coke!
But here is the worst part: once the film had finally begun (and what a wonderful opening scene it is) a crowd of youths came running in looking for seats!
After playing musical chairs in the front row for the first 10mins of the film, three large ladies behind me started giving sarcastic running commentary through out the entire first 20mins.
Then, a member of the public began to snore - can you believe it. At first I thought this was a joke and Jeremy Beadle was about to appear - sadly not.
People all around us were texting, tweeting and facebooking through the entire film - it was a living bloody nightmare - and many times I asked god almighty for strength - it never came.

Here is my conclusion - because of the adverts for the The American, people were expecting some sort of james bond crash band wallop film and because the film as lost of space and time and gradually matures (much like the original Day of the Jackal) the public gets bored - my generation does not have attention spans longer than 5mins.......

My policy towards the rules in the cinema is becoming much more right-wing - which is a shame as I'm only 23.

Thanks for listening guys, it was a wonderful film I'll just have to buy it on DVD

Dom

Must say that i thoroughly enjoyed The American - probably one of my favourite films of the year. Definitely echoes the brilliant Jean-Pierre Melville's "Le Samourai" which as it happens i recently bought on DVD from France for £25. Clooney gives a brilliant understated performance in a beautiful shot film. But what surprised me was that the Doctor did'nt mention in his review the stunning Violante Placido who played Carla.
Will buy this when released on DVD as it will sit nicely next to Le Samurai.

Wow. I did a review of The American back in October and I was apparently channeling the good Doctor...

Beautiful... Seen it before... Predictable... Clooney plays this kind of character fairly well... Still kind of liked it....

Still a better review than for Skyline ("Skyline... It's not terrible.")

@UncleBalsamic

Okay, I shall take your word for it, Solyaris will be viewed over the weekend. I'll get back to afterwards.

Just watched it. Meh. It's basically In Bruges minus the humour and everything else that made In Bruges great. The characters were dull and the story was on morphine, as i suspect was the person who scripted this snoozefest. None of the lead characters are remotely sympathetic or interesting, though they are impossibly sexy. I wanted the priest to pull out an uzi and shoot the lot of them. It does look nice though, i'll give it that. Oh, and there's some top-draw female nudity. In a nutshell: one very shiny terd.

Sometimes doing nothing is really doing a lot with very little, this however is in my opinion not one of those times. Some sublime and beautiful scenery indeed (more indebted to the architects than the cinematography), but the performances were so minimal as to barely register and there was little plot to speak of other than the overused and cliched premise.

This smacks of a Nervous film-maker so scared of saying anything that he leaves everything in a world of ambiguity, and leaves us to project our own expectations onto the film, I wasn't expecting an action adventure with guns blazing and helicopters exploding (though some audience members possibly were, which would explain their early exit), but it might have been nice if there where one or two more plot points instead of the gaping plot holes that filled the void.

The chief of these being the motivation of any of the characters bar George Clooney's ( I won't fill this comment with spoiler's). There is no story here, but rather there is a lot of subtext, which is nice to see but it should be SUBTEXT not the WHOLE TEXT!

a frightfully disappointing and dull film. 5/10 for style, 1/10 for storytelling.