The American review

   The same stillness and raw emotion exuded from Anton Corbijn's stellar debut film Control is in full view in the Clooney vehicle The American.

"Don't make any friends, you used to know that" says the handler Pavel (played heartlessly by Johan Leysen) to his employee, an assassin whose assumed identity is Jack (George Clooney) is told to retreat to a small Italian town after things go terribly wrong in Sweden, this is just the beginning as threats both external and otherwise pursue him. As he drives towards his inevitable fate, the grainy distance and shadows similar to that of a music video (Corbijn's speciality), but imbued with enough emotion and purpose that it fits together.

 

Jack is a cold, methodical killer. He has little qualm in shooting his lover, is loyal to his job and he deals with anything that comes his way with razor sharp precision. Jack is also human and regardless of his training or profession, the human element becomes his weakness. Solitude in Castel Del Monte, the town he stays in is short-lived as he willingly and unwillingly makes connections, even revealing the hypocrisy of others such as the priest and his bastard son. Although there are many scenes of quiet contemplation Jack longs for intimacy and the clichéd heavy handed purpose of redemption is thankfully not utilised as Corbijn opts for a subtle, paranoia driven guilt trip.

 

The experience of laying low in the town is a very meditative one and at times philosophical, particularly with the priest Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli) who knows more than he should when he declares Jack "a craftsman and not an artist" (after Jack lies about not being good with machines) and hams it up as he hands out spiritual direction and soul food. Jack's self reflection and control is an integral part of The American and it is clear that he has already lost a lot of it as we are thrust into his life with no idea of back story or exactly why he is being hunted. He follows a routine; leaving his small apartment after rigorous exercise to visit café's in the similar but more comprehensible way Jim Jarmuschs's Limits of Control had its protagonist do. Jack also visits a brothel and meets with one particular prostitute Clara (Violante Placido) who panders to his weakness as their relationship becomes more than a transaction.

 

Jack has not retired, nor is he inactive but he does receive a strange request from his employer to make a silencer and assist another agent Ingrid (Irina Bjorklund) with a hit. Assembling a rifle is a cool moment in cinema; The American tops that completely with a scene that has Jack assemble a silencer from scratch with car parts. The craft of his profession plays out beautifully; he kills with brutal efficiency, meets with other agents ingeniously and uses various tactics that aid his survival, such as removing his shoes to stealth kill another assassin.

 

His pseudo identity is that of a travel photographer as he makes his way through the town and the neighbouring city. Jack which may not be his real name as Edward is also mentioned, even has a pseudo pseudo agenda of Senor farfalla (Mr. Butterfly) as he himself states that they are an endangered species, and because of the moniker; the tattoo of a butterfly, on his back.

The feeling of paranoia is a constant niggling one, and is handled expertly as Jack meets with a fellow agent, handling a rifle together, the music and distance between the both of them using foreground and background shots are highly effective and everyone's motives are questioned. Jack's paranoia ramps up and an equally tense scene at a picnic with Clara also play out with equal suspicion.

 

As Jack's begins to lose control he makes some mistakes, revealing too much information about himself and making the tried and true mistake of opting out of his profession. "There is no out", replies Pavel, which follows a sequence that explodes into a thrilling double cross, literally a white knuckle showdown and a real sense of finality, with the poignant final scene as a butterfly drifts out of view.