Film Review: The American

Film Review: The American

Directed by Anton Corbijn. It's an adaption from the novel A very Private Gentleman by Martin Booth. George Clooney portrays Jack, an assassin and custom arms maker that's on holiday in the forests of Sweden with his love to find out an ambush. During the ambush he kills his lover and a couple of other assassins then flees to Italy to contact his handler to obtain a job to build a sniper riffle with a silencer. While in Italy he befriends a local priest and falls into a steamy romance with a lovely prostitute (Clara). After building the weapon he decides to ask Clara to run away with him and discovers who the weapon was built to assassinate. The film is sleek and very stylish with a film noir type setting that will leave the audience guessing what is going to happen next. Not your typical blast them to the sky type film but a deeper sense of how alone the main character with beautiful camera work and settings. The cinematography and camera work brings out the old Ian Flemming. The story of the film was well paced and the characters are interesting. This is a film that you can judge by it's cover. Simply cool and mysterious.

3 out of 4 stars

Film Review: Black Swan

Film Review:Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky directed this horror themed thriller film of pressure and the presence of a doppelganger. The film stars Natalie Portman as the main character playing the young perfectionist to take on the task of the white swan but also find trouble undertaking the transformation of the black swan. Her friend Lily played by Mila Kunis fits the part for the black swan perfectly whom becomes competition that leads to her losing touch of reality. Her overbearing mother has a failed ballet career and puts the pressure by reliving her career through her daughter. It's terrible how this happens and adds to her caving in under pressure. The film was shot in a real type format rather than the pretty film stock. It gave it a sense of raw realness to make many of the shots believable. The camera work in the film was impressive with the many scenes having a horror type element leaving you at the edge of your seat in wonder. Natalie Portman does not get naked in the film if you were looking for a cheap thrill, just to let you know but there is a sultry scene in the film that heats up the coldest theatres. There was months of training for the film and ballet is just more than standing in the middle of a stage with a tutu looking cute. It's serious pressure. I found this film to be simply amazing and see it winning many awards for ceromonies to come. This is the same director from requiem for a Dream and Pi. Expect intense. I highly reccommend to watch this.

four out four stars.