Steve Buscemi's Interview : Movie Review
It takes a certain something to draw me into a film and fully commit to it emotionally. This emotional connection, I feel, is what can make a movie truly great.
There are varying degrees to this emotional depth, it is true. Usually the emotional commitment made is so intense that I have to stop at the end, giving myself time to digest and process what I have just witnessed on screen. I have, to the best of my knowledge, never seen a movie that seemed incredibly simple on the surface, only to have it pull me apart unexpectedly.
Well, I have just watched a piece of magnificent film work that I went into thinking it would be one way, only to have it be so much more than expected. That film is Steve Buscemi's remake of Interview [ link ].
At base level, Interview is a film about celebrity and all it entails. Steve Buscemi plays Pierre Peder, a journalist whose pieces generally center around politics and war. When his editor-in-chief gives him a fluff piece assignment, to interview famous actress Katya, he is dismayed to be reduced to such a low level.
He meets up with Katya in a restaurant, after she arrives over one hour late. Things do not go smoothly. He is peeved to have to interview such a person, and she, in turn, is offended that he has not seen any of her films or brushed up on her life. Their interview ends poorly, with her storming out, and Pierre left without a piece to turn in to his editor.
Upon leaving the restaurant, Pierre ends up in a minor car wreck caused in part by Katya. Feeling bad for Pierre's minor injury, she takes him up to her loft to get cleaned up.
Over the course of the proceeding hours, we experience a ping-pong match between the two characters. They get along, then they don't. They find a minor connection between them, only to have their disdain for one another shortly reemerge.
The premise seems as though it will center around celebrity, and while this is certainly a large aspect of the film, it is by no means the most important one. This is a film about how, no matter where you come from or what you do, we are all flawed human beings. It is a statement of truth and deception, and a testament to the fact that, sometimes, life's greatest complexities are lurking behind things which seem so simple.
Interview is not easily summarized, since to do so in-depth would be to give away key points of the plot. Suffice it to say that Sienna Miller and Steve Buscemi portray their characters exquisitely, bringing realness to the wonderful script.
This film sucks you in gradually. You don't know how far you've fallen into it until you are submerged beyond retrieval. As previously stated, this film is deeper and more meaningful than it at first appears.
Interview is unique in the sense that it is a rare example of a film successfully being carried by only two actors. Buscemi and Miller are so genuine, their chemistry so great, that you forget you are watching two actors.
You see these two characters, from two different worlds, gradually realizing more about each other and the world. Through their constant battle between understanding one another and bickering, we are left with a realization. We realize that sometimes, it is not our similarities that make us relate to one another, but our differences. It is oddly moving witnessing two people finally open up and bare their true souls to one another.
Or do they? This is the question that makes the film, above all else, worth watching. You end up feeling emotionally pulled in different directions, and just when you think you have it all figured out, you realize you don't.
A superb film standing as a testament to the way humans are, and a well-acted, well-directed film about our society's fascination with celebrity.
GRADE: A-
There are varying degrees to this emotional depth, it is true. Usually the emotional commitment made is so intense that I have to stop at the end, giving myself time to digest and process what I have just witnessed on screen. I have, to the best of my knowledge, never seen a movie that seemed incredibly simple on the surface, only to have it pull me apart unexpectedly.
Well, I have just watched a piece of magnificent film work that I went into thinking it would be one way, only to have it be so much more than expected. That film is Steve Buscemi's remake of Interview [ link ].
At base level, Interview is a film about celebrity and all it entails. Steve Buscemi plays Pierre Peder, a journalist whose pieces generally center around politics and war. When his editor-in-chief gives him a fluff piece assignment, to interview famous actress Katya, he is dismayed to be reduced to such a low level.
He meets up with Katya in a restaurant, after she arrives over one hour late. Things do not go smoothly. He is peeved to have to interview such a person, and she, in turn, is offended that he has not seen any of her films or brushed up on her life. Their interview ends poorly, with her storming out, and Pierre left without a piece to turn in to his editor.
Upon leaving the restaurant, Pierre ends up in a minor car wreck caused in part by Katya. Feeling bad for Pierre's minor injury, she takes him up to her loft to get cleaned up.
Over the course of the proceeding hours, we experience a ping-pong match between the two characters. They get along, then they don't. They find a minor connection between them, only to have their disdain for one another shortly reemerge.
The premise seems as though it will center around celebrity, and while this is certainly a large aspect of the film, it is by no means the most important one. This is a film about how, no matter where you come from or what you do, we are all flawed human beings. It is a statement of truth and deception, and a testament to the fact that, sometimes, life's greatest complexities are lurking behind things which seem so simple.
Interview is not easily summarized, since to do so in-depth would be to give away key points of the plot. Suffice it to say that Sienna Miller and Steve Buscemi portray their characters exquisitely, bringing realness to the wonderful script.
This film sucks you in gradually. You don't know how far you've fallen into it until you are submerged beyond retrieval. As previously stated, this film is deeper and more meaningful than it at first appears.
Interview is unique in the sense that it is a rare example of a film successfully being carried by only two actors. Buscemi and Miller are so genuine, their chemistry so great, that you forget you are watching two actors.
You see these two characters, from two different worlds, gradually realizing more about each other and the world. Through their constant battle between understanding one another and bickering, we are left with a realization. We realize that sometimes, it is not our similarities that make us relate to one another, but our differences. It is oddly moving witnessing two people finally open up and bare their true souls to one another.
Or do they? This is the question that makes the film, above all else, worth watching. You end up feeling emotionally pulled in different directions, and just when you think you have it all figured out, you realize you don't.
A superb film standing as a testament to the way humans are, and a well-acted, well-directed film about our society's fascination with celebrity.
GRADE: A-
Labels: movie reviews
posted by ritzraff at
8:34 PM
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