A Most Wanted Man (2014)
July 27, 2014 11:27 AM - Subscribe
A Chechen Muslim illegally immigrates to Hamburg, where he gets caught in the international war on terror. As the clock ticks down and the stakes rise, the race is on to establish his true identity: oppressed victim or destruction-bent extremist? Philip Seymour Hoffman's last starring role. Based on John le Carré's novel.
I saw it a few days ago and have been mulling it over since. It's a great performance by Hoffman, of course, with an extraordinary interior depth. Atmospherically, it feels surprisingly (almost comfortingly?) Cold War-esque, like Hamburg exists in a different era from the rest of post-unification Germany. I thought Rachel McAdams was pretty weak, though -- it felt like 90% of her energy went into her (poor) accent, and the remaining 10% of her performance didn't feel particularly authentic, either. I would have much preferred someone like Franka Potente in the role.
Anyway, I have more to say but will wait till others chime in, because I don't want to inadvertently spoil the plot for mlis.
posted by scody at 10:43 AM on July 30, 2014
Anyway, I have more to say but will wait till others chime in, because I don't want to inadvertently spoil the plot for mlis.
posted by scody at 10:43 AM on July 30, 2014
I'm right there with you on Rachel McAdams, despite liking her. Her accent was scattershot and I was never convinced that she's a lawyer (at some point I expected the firm she works for to enter into the plot) in part because the costume designer seems to emphasize her youth so heavily that she looks terribly casual even during business meetings. The female characters in general seemed underwritten, and I have some issue with how women are represented in the film, although that plunges into spoiler territory.
While I also enjoyed the film, there are quite a few moments that felt a bit too clever: obvious switches to handheld cameras during emotional scenes; Hoffman punching a man who slaps a woman at the bar immediately prior to the scene in which he throws McAdams into a chair, as if to ensure the audience doesn't mistake Hoffman's character for being misogynistic; Issa Karpov throwing countless paper airplanes that collide with a barrier. It was, all in all, an engrossing use of two hours, but it hasn't left much of an impression on me since.
posted by lunch at 12:52 PM on July 30, 2014
While I also enjoyed the film, there are quite a few moments that felt a bit too clever: obvious switches to handheld cameras during emotional scenes; Hoffman punching a man who slaps a woman at the bar immediately prior to the scene in which he throws McAdams into a chair, as if to ensure the audience doesn't mistake Hoffman's character for being misogynistic; Issa Karpov throwing countless paper airplanes that collide with a barrier. It was, all in all, an engrossing use of two hours, but it hasn't left much of an impression on me since.
posted by lunch at 12:52 PM on July 30, 2014
Man, this was SO LE CARRÉ. I've read a bunch of his books so I really should have expected that ending, but it caught me completely by surprise.
I really loved the distinction in mannerisms, speech patterns, etc between the German and American characters, I feel as though that was captured really well.
posted by troika at 12:10 PM on July 31, 2014 [5 favorites]
I really loved the distinction in mannerisms, speech patterns, etc between the German and American characters, I feel as though that was captured really well.
posted by troika at 12:10 PM on July 31, 2014 [5 favorites]
Thanks, scody, but go ahead and discuss if you like, I will avoid the thread until I have seen it.
posted by mlis at 6:48 PM on July 31, 2014
posted by mlis at 6:48 PM on July 31, 2014
I finally watched this movie and I am lukewarm on it, to tell the truth. Even Philip Seymour Hoffman seemed flatter than I expected from him. Other people saw subtleties there that I didn't.
Rachel McAdams was definitely portrayed way too young, (and too American, to my eye). What, she had NO experienced superior to ask questions in that whole organization? If I'd been her, I'd've been asking advice right and left.
The German accents were distracting- why do people speaking to each other in the same language have an accent? I guess it was just to emphasize the difference from the American?
I loved the American- a little flashy and smiled at all the wrong times, as Americans are famous for doing. And, you know, fucking Hoffman's character over. Again.
Anyway, this thread's dead but when I went to post another, Fanfare said it was a repeat.
posted by small_ruminant at 10:23 PM on September 15, 2014
Rachel McAdams was definitely portrayed way too young, (and too American, to my eye). What, she had NO experienced superior to ask questions in that whole organization? If I'd been her, I'd've been asking advice right and left.
The German accents were distracting- why do people speaking to each other in the same language have an accent? I guess it was just to emphasize the difference from the American?
I loved the American- a little flashy and smiled at all the wrong times, as Americans are famous for doing. And, you know, fucking Hoffman's character over. Again.
Anyway, this thread's dead but when I went to post another, Fanfare said it was a repeat.
posted by small_ruminant at 10:23 PM on September 15, 2014
Just watched this for the first time and enjoyed it.
What interested me is that it seemed Hoffman's character is just out of his depth. The way he and his team snatched and tried to manipulate McAdams seemed like such a ham-handed and amateurish way to get her co-operation. Why didn't he just meet her like he did DeFoe and explain the danger her client was in and why he had a better offer? That's what he ended up doing anyway, but could have done without all the drama and trauma.
Later when he explains and pitches his plans to everyone in Berlin, the CIA agent pointedly asks him, "What are we going to gain from turning this guy? Who will we catch with him as bait? What is your plan?" He thinks he wins her over by repeating her line about making the world a safer place. He doesn't see that it was the wrong answer.
She told him earlier that they wanted to grab this guy and all she needed from him was proof that he'd been funding terrorists. He doesn't see that she's asking him for a specific bigger fish they can catch if she doesn't do that, and he doesn't have one. So of course she takes the bird in her hand rather than hope there's a bigger one in the bush.
We want to believe with Hoffman's character that he is saltier and savvier than the idiots around him ("Have you ever seen blood in the streets, Poindexter?"), because...it's Hoffman! But maybe he's just not. And that made the whole movie much more fascinating to me.
posted by straight at 12:57 AM on June 22, 2024
What interested me is that it seemed Hoffman's character is just out of his depth. The way he and his team snatched and tried to manipulate McAdams seemed like such a ham-handed and amateurish way to get her co-operation. Why didn't he just meet her like he did DeFoe and explain the danger her client was in and why he had a better offer? That's what he ended up doing anyway, but could have done without all the drama and trauma.
Later when he explains and pitches his plans to everyone in Berlin, the CIA agent pointedly asks him, "What are we going to gain from turning this guy? Who will we catch with him as bait? What is your plan?" He thinks he wins her over by repeating her line about making the world a safer place. He doesn't see that it was the wrong answer.
She told him earlier that they wanted to grab this guy and all she needed from him was proof that he'd been funding terrorists. He doesn't see that she's asking him for a specific bigger fish they can catch if she doesn't do that, and he doesn't have one. So of course she takes the bird in her hand rather than hope there's a bigger one in the bush.
We want to believe with Hoffman's character that he is saltier and savvier than the idiots around him ("Have you ever seen blood in the streets, Poindexter?"), because...it's Hoffman! But maybe he's just not. And that made the whole movie much more fascinating to me.
posted by straight at 12:57 AM on June 22, 2024
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posted by mlis at 9:19 PM on July 29, 2014