The Last Movie I Saw

It's a very odd experience to go see a Hollywood feature, starring one of the biggest box-office draws in the world, widely advertised as a somewhat standard thriller, only to discover that you're watching something very akin to a European arthouse flick circa 1969. Not that I'm complaining, mind you-- The American (directed by Anton Corbijn and starring George Clooney) was a very pleasant surprise even though I expected to like it even based on the somewhat misleading way it was marketed. It's incredibly atmospheric, so much so that the details of the plot become almost beside the point; or anyway, those standard elements emphasized in the ads clearly have only tangential relation to what this is really about. In that sense it kind of reminded me of an Antonioni film like L'Avventura or Blow-Up (though I'm not arguing that The American is as good as either of those). One of the aspects I really liked was that short scenes of conversation make me curious to know what was said after the camera cut away, not because something was missing, but because the brief exchanges were so interesting (maybe especially those involving an old priest befriended by Clooney's character while hiding out in a picturesque Italian village). It doesn't hurt that the photography of the Abruzzo region of Italy is pretty stunning throughout, or that the actors supporting Clooney are all first rate. This will definitely end up being one of my favorite films of the year.