On the Blueprint with A Most Wanted Man

In 2004 the Swedish director Tomas Alfredson directed Tinker Tailor Solider Spy based on the novel by John le Carre. This had a raft of famous faces and did not shy away from le Carre’s multi stranded complex narrative. This film not only went on to be a huge critical success (nominated for many awards), but also a commercial success. A smart box office hit.

This year, Dutch filmmaker Anton Corbijn directed A Most Wanted Man based on the novel by John le Carre. This has one major American star of incomparable talent and does not shy away from le Carre’s multi stranded complex narrative. This film has to date been a moderate critical success and time will tell if it reaches the same levels of commercial success that Tinker Tailor did. But it doesn’t look good.

Film history is full of examples of studios and producers trying to recreate the success of other films by replicating what they see as a blueprint for success. Some would suggest there is no blueprint, that films are products of their specific context more than how much they remind audiences of something previous. Although Marvel would prove this theory wrong.

A Most Wanted Man is not Tinker Tailor, although it has many themes in common: paranoia, fear, anxiety. While the latter dealt with more institutional concerns, the former looks at larger, more relatable fears of terrorism. And it is perhaps this ordinariness or seen-it-before mentality that makes A Most Wanted Man less of an impressive film that Tinker Tailor. 60s style becomes 2000s realism and despite the superb performance of Philip Seymour Hoffman the film just feels light weight, which is unusual for a film dealing with international terrorism.

However Le Carre’s narratives continue to offer gripping stories and serious, adult thrillers are always welcome. 

On Redefining Terrorism with Night Moves

Terrorism is defined as the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims. This is a hazy definition, but one that cinema usually decides includes running, shouting, explosions and a ticking clock. Even the emotionally and politically intelligent Zero Dark Thirty (2012) ends with a night vision home invasion in the style of point of view computer games. However, much like in 2010 when Kelly Reichardt altered audience perceptions of what they though a Western was with Meek’s Cutoff, here she does the same with Night Moves and the terrorist genre.

Reichardt replaces running with cars crawling through quiet forests; shouting becomes the stifled talk of awkward but determined terrorists; explosions become singular and heard, but not seen and the ticking clock moves at a snail’s pace. Yet Night Moves is tense and intelligent and this reduction in what are expected genre conventions makes the film feel sharp in its representation of environmental terrorism. In fact all films depicting terrorists, whether the bombastic attention seeking style or, like here, the quiet more politically sympathetic kind would benefit from Reichardt’s careful, studied hand.

Unfortunately, like Meek’s Cutoff, Night Moves will not draw in audiences like The Kingdom (2007) or Zero Dark Thirty. This is not only down to its restrained, modest style, but speaks of the importance with which audiences view environmental issues compared to more news worthy wars abroad. Many people see the issue as someone else’s problem and the same could be said of the horrendous conflicts they take place, but unlike them, trees being cut down or ice melting isn’t cinematic enough. The East (2013) is another recent attempt at showing domestic (American) terrorism with ecological leanings without the box office.

Yet Reichardt finds a way to make it cinematic and keep us gripped. Some of the shots are beautifully framed and the western state landscapes provide a stunning backdrop. The performances of the central three are laced with anxiety and a paranoia that hangs off the screen and seeps into the viewer. The juxtaposition of the two makes Night Moves a beautifully tense slow burning thriller. 

On Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For

Nine years ago Sin City (2005) gave us something that felt fresh and managed to, as accurately as possible, put a graphic novel on screen (the most faithful comic book adaptation?) The hardboiled noir like style and dialogue was carried off with skill, offering a pastiche of 40s and 50s noir cinema, which in turn paid tribute to the hard talking pulp characters of Chandler and Hammett.

What has happened in those nine years that has led to Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For is hard to say, but the results are disappointing. A Dame to Kill For, again directed and written by Rodriguez and Miller comes off as a poor attempt to parody Sin City. Much like 2008’s The Spirit. The dialogue of A Dame to Kill For is hackneyed, the direction clumsy and confused in its narrative. Only Joseph Gordon-Levitt, new to the series, seems aware of all this and embodies his character with subtle awareness that seems to prevent him from becoming a lazy caricature.

Unlike many recent comic book/graphic novel adaptations, the first Sin City is not marketed to death, so seek it out and watch it again rather than suffering A Dame to Kill For.