Still catching up. More spy espionage with Clive Owen this time with a little less of a romantic comedy bent to it (see Tony Gilroy’s “Duplicity“). From the director of “Run Lola Run,” Tom Tykwer – who has made several films since, but none strong enough to make people forget “Lola’ – this action thriller is set to open up the 59th Annual Berlin Film Festival on February 9, 2009. The synopsis:
In “The International,” a gripping thriller, Interpol Agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) and Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) are determined to bring to justice one of the world’s most powerful banks. Uncovering myriad and reprehensible illegal activities, Salinger and Whitman follow the money from Berlin to Milan to New York to Istanbul. Finding themselves in a high-stakes chase across the globe, their relentless tenacity puts their own lives at risk as their targets will stop at nothing ? even murder ? to continue financing terror and war. Directed by Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) from an original screenplay written by Eric Warren Singer, The International is being shot on location in Germany and throughout Europe.
For us, Twkyer is known for his 2002 film “Heaven” about a fictional terror attack in Italy. It debuted at Berlin Seven years ago and was poorly received, not probably because it landed just five months after the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. We actually never saw it for the same reasons we were greatly intrigued by it. It was a film written by the late and great Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski based on an unfinished trilogy he had started writing called, “Heaven, Hell and Purgatory”. We personally adore Kieslowski and consider him one of the cinema titans of the ’80s and ’90s (“The Decalogue” and The “Red/White/Blue” trilogy are masterpieces; the great Stanley Kubrick was moved enough by ‘Decalogue’ he wrote a rare foreword for the film if that’s any indication of how amazing his work is; Quentin Tarantino was so blown away by Kieslowski’s ravishing, “The Double Life of Véronique” at Cannes in 1990, he tried to cast the film’s gorgeous heroine Irene Jacob as Bruce Willis’ wife in “Pulp Fiction”; we digress…) and when the film was hit with miserable reviews, we were heartbroken that his last work had been supposedly “butchered” (as some reviews suggested). One day we’ll see it. Maybe around the time “The International” comes out, which according to IMDB is February 13, 2009 (dumping ground season, does not bode well).
Yes, this became a post about Krzysztof Kieslowski, sorry, he’s more interesting than Twkyer, frankly.
before you talk too much crap about someone you should do a little more to make it not sound like hot air – i.e. see their movies. the princess and the warrior was fantastic and winters sleepers was equally as good. BUT heaven was not that good so maybe you’re right, but you should still go rent those two previous ones (they bookended lola). aaaaand the international looks pretty terrible but his trailers don’t always do him justice because there’s always a lot going on in his films.
sorry. it seems weird when people write “reviews” of films that they haven’t seen themselves.
The International may look terrible, but this article is overlooking Tykwer’s best film, Perfume! Totally underrated.