Movie #261 The Spy Who Came in from the Cold *1965*

I started watching this film while I was in Japan.  I was enjoying it quite a bit, but I was very tired and decided to go to sleep.  I rented it from iTunes and by the time I made it around to watch it again my rental time had expired.

The film stars Richard Burton as a tough English spy.  His mission is to appear to be a drunk defector and try to lead to the capture and assassination of a former British agent.  Burton was excellent in the role.  First off I don't think he had to stretch his acting chops much to play a drunk.  By reputation Burton was known to be a hard drinker if not a blackout drunk.  But there was a desperation to the character that Burton brought to the role.  The character had to convey and almost nihilistic attitude.  All he cared about was booze and money, and the money was only to buy more booze.  He stopped caring about country, dignity and love.  

The film opens on a great set piece.  A guard shack in a joint security area.  I forget which countries are bordering each other.  He is in charge of the area.  They are waiting for a specific person.  The camera work, lighting and set design function very well to set the time and location of the story.  The script introduces us to Burton's character and we right away what type of a man he is.


Once Operation Rolling Stone is set into action (where Burton will attempt to look like a defector) the plot and story opens up and we are introduced to a few more characters.  Notably Nan Perry who plays Burton's communist sort-of-lover / girlfriend.  They work together in a library.  At first I think he was using her to make his new lifestyle look more believable.  Then I think he gained true feelings for her.   Also notably is Oskar Werner who plays Fiedler.  A German who is sent to interrogate Burton.  There is a great scene where he is standing and he asks for some papers from a guy who is sitting 10 feet away from him.  He reaches his hand out as down the man sitting.  Feidler just stands there with his arm out and makes the guy get up and hand the papers to him.  It was a very small thing, but it solidified Fiedler.  Fielder was a take charge man who would never let anyone get the better of him.  All the while Burton is playing him for a fool.

The film closes with a tribunal where all this is brought to the surface and there is a twist that can be seen coming a mile away, but the consequences of this twist were shocking.  The final scene is a little too classic Hollywood for me, but none the less it is effective.

Burton has a great line in the film that I will paraphrase: I don't believe in Father Christmas, God or Karl Marx.  I don't believe in things that shake the world.  This movie is filled with great British qoute.  And great actors to deliver them.  I give The Spy Who Came in from the Cold ★★★1/2.

Movie #102 Flame and Citron *2008*

Flame and Citron is a Danish film released in 2008.  It is a WWII film.  It deals with a group of Dutch civilians that form a united resistance to Hitler's Nazi party.  This group is lead by two men who's code names are Flame and Citron.

This film is based on actual events and the two title character are considered hero's in Denmark.  This film reminded me of the German film "The Lives of Others".  It had a very similar visual style.  The colors were bright, but soft on the edges.  The cinematography is great in this film.  As are the locations.  It is a beautiful film to look at and it is carefully directed. 

I really enjoyed this movie.  The lead actors are Thure Lindhardt as Flame (the red haired assassin) and Mads Milkkelsen as Citron (a family man disgusted by National Socialism).  Mads has been in several films that American audiences can see him in.  Lindhardt no so much and that is a shame.  Both actors were great in their roles respectively.  Another great performance came from Stine Stengade as a femme fatal that you never really can tell who's side she is on.  She is a true beauty on screen.  I instantly added a few of her films to my Netflix queue.

That is one of the great things about this movie.  You never know who is telling the truth and what is right and what is wrong.  I have never been a war situation, but I think this film captures the confusion that goes along with wanting to do the right thing, but not always knowing how to.  In that matter it reminds me a little of last years The Hurt Locker.

At worst this is another WWII film, but one told from a perspective I had never seen before.  At its best, it is a spy thriller for the ages.  I give Flame and Citron a 4/5 stars.  Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.

Day #4 - The American

What a perfect day.  I slept in till almost noon.  Spent the afternoon with my girlfriend just being lazy (an event I'm generally not afforded).  Then in the evening we decided to travel down to the big city to catch a movie.  Before that we stopped by the bookstore and I picked up copies of "Filmmaker" & "Film Comment" magazines.  After that I took her to a wonderful restaurant and we shared a bottle of wine and we each had steaks that absolutely melted in our mouths.  Once we allowed some time for gestation to take place we went to the mega-plex and saw "The American".

I am generally not the type of guy who will go to a movie based on its stars.  I follow directors more than actors.  I am more likely to see a David Fincher film than I am the new Robert Downey Jr. movie.  There are a few exceptions to that rule.  Joseph Gorden Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Tom Hardy are examples.  George Clooney is another.  I admit, he is my man crush.  He is my generations Paul Newman, and I know that is blasphemy for many but he has careless charisma and charm in his back pocket.  He can be tough as nails in one scene then guarded and vulnerable in the next simply by twitching a half smile.

This is not to say that Anton Corbijn is a hack.  I quite enjoyed his last feature "Control" about the life of Ian Curtis and his band Joy Division.  He continues with another winner with this film.  I was first struck by his filming of the landscape.  The films open in a snowy Sweden then moves to a small Italian village.  The landscapes are breathtaking and Corbijn captures them in a way that puts you there in the middle.  You can taste the coffee, you can smell the wildflowers, and you can hear every footstep on the stone roadways.  Sound plays of great importance in this movie.  The dialogue is minimal at best.  If I was guessing I would say the script would be comprised of under 25 pages.  Everything is told by second glances over the characters shoulders, or an unexpected pause in a stroll down the twisting, cavernous streets of the city.

Clooney is a gun builder of sorts despite saying on a few occasions that he is bad with machines.  He is hiding from the Swedes due to a botched job.  He befriends a priest in the villa, of as close of a friend as he will allow.  The nature of his work prevents him from allowing anyone to get to close to him.  He also makes nice with a local prostitute played by Violante Placido.  I could write a blog dedicated to miss Placido.  She sets the screen on FIRE with her beauty.  When I say she is breathtaking that is because during one screen I literally began coughing because I forgot to inhale.  I should also mention that her acting was superb. 

Overall I have to say that I loved this movie.  It is packed with dramatic, tense moments.  Corbijn trusts his audience and doesn't' force feed exposition down our throats.  It is refreshing to watch a movie that lets you uncover and build relationships with its characters.  Hollywood, it is ok if we don't know the motives of all the people on screen as long as you provide us with reason for caring about them.  Mr Corbijn realizes this.

This movie had me at Clooney, but it didn't rest on his laurels.  It provided a fresh, smart, engaging thriller.  This is in many ways a throwback to the spy genre of the 70's.  All the way down to the movie poster.  I give this movie a 4.5 /5 stars.  For more please check out the link below for the trailer
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ywmoXZwkA0