Lying is a interesting thing. I mean how normal it comes to people. Sometimes a lie can be so convincing that your unsure of whether one is convincing themselves or the other party. Then there is the reason for lying too. Is it to keep things on a even keel or just for the fuck of it (from "The Departed"). "Interview" is a movie about two people lying among other things. They converse, tell stories, share sexual tension, show emotion and truth, but in the end still despise each other. It's all in style of "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf". Just cause your talking to someone and expressing yourself... doesn't mean your friends or even like each other.
Steve Buscemi plays Pierre Peders, a war correspondent/ journalist. He is now doing people pieces or as he calls them fluff work. He is to interview Katya, a celebrity sex icon. Katya is played Sienna Miller in a performance unlike anything she's done before. He doesn't want to be there even less than her. He despises women like this. Those who are valued for looks over brains (She'll prove him wrong). Pierre knows nothing of what Katya does and she is shocked by this. Not so much the fact he doesn't know anything, but because he plans to minimize the interview, almost fake his way through it. She leaves... he too plans on going home, but after a car accident cause by her celebrity (her looks causes disasters) and takes Pierre to her apartment so he can ice a nasty bump. The film is 84 minutes long and I'd say 70 of those take place in the apartment.
Here the two engage in a battle of wits each trying to disarm the other and leave victorious. They lie to each other in a manner of ways. Some is straight forward, some subtle and other is not telling the whole truth. The little pauses and tiny looks say a whole lot more than the two characters actually say. You don't know where the truth is or if it will ever come through. Will a character leave tonight the winner or will they both hurt each other so much that life will change for them? Maybe even that this battle is just another notch on their belts. However some things that they will tell each other will wipe the floor with you.
Steve Buscemi is a great actor, to bad his looks aren't great. My dad and I liked to talk about how he and Paul Giamatti are actors who are casted for talent and not looks. They won't be dashing heros but they'll show more talent then most the good looking actors today. Buscemi hasn't been this good since "Ghost World". However I felt Sienna Miller stole the show. Buscemi is already a established actor, many in the business have great respect for him. Sienna Miller is a fresh young and very pretty face. She has to establish herself as an actress or fall into the work a pretty face gets you (a reflection on her character as well). She gives a tour de force performance and is even harder to pick apart her character then it is for Buscemi. I really hope she does more ambitious work like this in the future. She picked up a Razzie for her work in "GI Joe". It's a shame because here she has more talent the majority of pretty talent currently working. Buscemi and Miller play their characters to perfection because their attitudes come through. They show some reflection on their characters in the smallest of ways. You'll never see them break character, but they do so much more for their characters with their real selves. It's truly first rate work form both leads.
It's hard to rate this movie because it does everything to sets out to do. They're making a talking piece in one room, a battle of wits. They did that and it was fantastic. However I loved every step of it. The war the two have is fantastic and so entertaining. It's not original but does wonders with it's material. The film is a remake of a part of a trilogy of films from Theo Van Gogh. Van Gogh was killed after making a film showing mistreatment of women in Islam. However his work was renowned worldwide and the trilogy was remade by Buscemi, Stanley Tucci and John Turturro. I've not seen the others but they are known to me but now I'm much more interested. "Interview" is fantastic take on a genre. Buscemi and especially Miller make this a movie worth seeing
9.5/10
Recommendation: If you like movies like "Closer" and "Before Sunrise" or plays like "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf" this is for you. It's a fantastic movie in the simplest of ways. I definitely say watch it.
No comments:
Post a Comment