HAVING dished up turkeys bigger than a Thanksgiving dinner during his early film career, there was a time when it was easy to write off George Clooney as a mediocre talented Hollywood hunk and remember him simply as that hot doctor from ER.
But while Chris O’Donnell’s career took a nose dive after playing one half of the dynamic duo in the unbelievably dire Batman and Robin, Clooney has managed to banish the nightmarish memory of his stint as the Caped Crusader and go on to make some of the most original and cinematically imaginative films of the past few years.
Last year was certainly Clooney’s year at the London Film Festival, with both Fantastic Mr Fox and Up In The Air showered with plaudits from critics.
And he’s back this year starring in The American - Anton Corbijn's follow-up to 2007’s musical biopic Control.
Based on Martin Booth’s 1990 novel A Very Private Gentleman, Clooney plays a world weary American hitman, haunted by his job and unable to form meaning relationships and friendships without the people he loves getting in the line of fire.
After a team of assassins hunt him down and blow his cover in an idyllic snow covered Sweden, he flees to Italy where he hides out in a small mountain village in the breathtaking Abruzzo region.
Deeply paranoid and constantly looking over his shoulder for an elusive sniper, he reluctantly takes one more job, but this time making the perfect weapon for mysterious female assassin Mathilde (a rather wooden Thekla Reuten).
Slow burning and more a character study of a lonely and haunted man than a kick ass action flick, The American is like Jason Bourne on weed.
Clooney delivers a nuanced and suitably understated performance as the titular lead.
With few lines to say, everything is expressed through facial expressions and body language, whether it’s a darting of his eyes or a twitch of his eyebrows. It’s an accomplished performance.
As you would expect from the Dutch photographer turned director, every frame is beautifully captured like a National Geographic photo.
From the opening vista of a dazzling white snowscape to a hovering aerial shot of the village of Castel del Monte, every scene is jaw-droppingly lush and gorgeous.
Because of it’s snail’s pace, The American is one of the harder films to get through at this year’s festival.
But as a meditation on loneliness and redemption, it’s an intelligent feature and it’s sparkling artistic merits make it worth watching until the quietly beautiful end.
The American is screening at the 54th BFI London Film Festival on October 16, 17 and 19. To book and for more information visit bfi.org.uk/lff
The American is released nationwide on November 26.
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