Film: The American/Meek's Cutoff

Two more LFF offerings find me tired and restless but, ultimately, still alive...

George Clooney makes sure, in 'THE AMERICAN', that nothing and no-one will detract from his being the centre of attention. Rarely off camera as Jack, a hired gunman fleeing to the Italian hills in hiding before taking on one last job, he fights off worthy adversaries in the brilliant cinematography of Martin Ruhe and the beautiful scenery and quaint rustic towns of Abruzzo to be crowned star of the show.

Anton Corbijn's follow up to 'Control', his expert debut, does little to detract from the idea that he is a photographer making films. Along with screenwriter Rowan Joffe he has taken Martin Booth's novel 'A Very Private Gentleman' and turned the protagonist from an Englishman into an American. Hence the title, then. But in his adaptation, Corbijn has approached the lead character with a photographer's eye for examination and study. 'The American' is a reflective film, slow-moving and often quiet and interested in picking apart the mind of its hero, who, in Jack's case, seems determined to find meaning, or possibly redemption, in his life.

When an explosive opening sees Jack ruthlessly despatch two men come to kill him, as well as his previously ignorant ladyfriend, he has no option but to go into hiding. His main contact, Pavel (played with typically menacing white hair by Johan Leysen), sends him to Italy, where he settles into a quaint town, all cobbled streets and small empty cafes with Sergio Leone on the TV (a nod to the westerns that Corbijn has said influenced the movie). Alone and suffering from painful dreams about his past misdemeanours, Jack befriends two people; a local priest, and a beautiful prostitute.

With this in mind the contemplative story moves between Jack's last job - the building of a gun for a fellow assassin, all be it one of the sexy, ice cold female kind - and the symbolic battle for Jack's soul. Will he find saviour? And if so, will it come from his body and heart, or from his faith? As the film comes to a close (with a twist that, due to the small number of characters in the story, is mundanely forseeable), Jack begins to find salvation, and the tension mounts as the action (of which there is significantly little) arrives. But there is a sense that the story has left too much unsaid, too much untouched, for us to be fully invested.

In the end, the film reminded me somewhat of 2007's Michael Clayton, which saw Clooney in a similarly dark and heartless role. In that film it was "fixing" troublesome issues for a major corporation that left Cloons cold and disenchanted, and here it is his ability to kill without hesitation, and his precise, craftsmanlike ability to build a weapon of death. Yet 'Michael Clayton' had a breadth of character and a resonance with contemporary audiences that 'The American' lacks, all-be-it a stylish, intelligent addition to the lone assassin canon, and not one that will upset George's CV.

If the American, though, felt somewhat meditatory, it was made to look like a veritable carnival in comparison to 'MEEK'S CUTOFF', a 19th Oregon-set "western" in its loosest form. A flash of the occasional gun does not a stand-off make, and this film is certainly not for those who like their bullets whizzing and their watertroughs popped full of caps...

Kelly Recihardt's film follows a group of settlers as they travel across the harsh and unforgiving desert under the guidance of gruff-voiced, hairy-faced frontiersman Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood). Desperate for sustenance, their only hope for survival seems to rely on a captured Native Indian, who they believe may take them to water if they, in turn, show him kindness.

Two hours long and consisting of numerous slow and poetic shots - people staring, women hanging up clothes, women hanging up clothes and staring - it is reminiscent of arthouse fair that is ambiguous and vague as a means of study, bringing to my mind Nicolas Roeg's 1971 film 'Walkabout'; a similarly difficult story set in Australia that focused, as well, on notions of time, race, spirituality and the treatment of native cultures.

Ultra-real in its pace and dialogue, 'Meek's Cutoff' forgoes excitement for a sense of artistic merit, but in doing will sacrifice all but a very slim audience. Good performances from Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Shirley Henderson and Will Patton mean that any drama, when allowed, is watchable, but too often are we left with a sense of ponderous importance, with large chunks of dialogue said offscreen and intriguing histories or conflicts left untouched.

Not a waste for those who appreciate or enjoy their arthouse, but a struggle for those more inclined to visit the multiplex.