American, The

The American was a compact European-model vehicle for lead actor George Clooney. The low-budget (US$20 million) movie grossed well in terms of arithmetic (close to US$60 million), it's definitely a one-off success, not a new Bourne or Salt franchise.

Co-producer Clooney chooses his films -- whether blockbusters, art-house projects, action adventures or comedies -- carefully, and usually successfully. He knows his name can "open" a movie on wide release in the American and world markets, but he also has been masterful at obtaining above-average plots, directors and supporting actors.

The American succeeded even though it is an American movie in name only. It's very much a European movie, filmed in the steep and winding cobbled lanes of a medieval Italian mountain town (Castel del Monte) and the stark rural landscape around it. With its slow pacing, colour-saturated cinematography, and sequence of small events building to a disturbing conclusion, it's clearly directed by a European. Anton Corbijn is a Dutchman best known for music videos and one previous English-language pop-related feature, Control. Although it's based on English mystery novel (Martin Booth's A Very Private Gentleman), and is an English-language movie, it's visibly and atmospherically a European art-house production.

Clooney's character, Jack or Edward, is first seen in Sweden, escaping an assassination attempt and having to kill a girlfriend in the process. An apparent secret agent, he is told to hide out in the small town and avoid the folly of having any more friends. In Italy, he has drinks and soulful exchanges of words with the local priest (veteran Paolo Bonacelli, whose credits range from Salo to MI3), he rents and starts to date a local prostitute (actress-singer Violante Placido), and his boss sends a hit-woman with a commission.

The agent and bogus photojournalist is also a master gunsmith, and the ending of the film is one of the few possible permutations to be expected from a storyboard with few characters and minimal character developments. Much of the movie's undeniable tightening grip on its audience results from the frequent close-up shots of Clooney's face. Few other actors can convey such a compelling range of doubt, anxiety, love and focused attention. Clooney's craftsmanship is remarkably under-stated, as is the director's style.