Something of a departure for music photographer and pop promo maker Anton Corbijn, who debuted so strongly with his acclaimed biopic of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis, Control. George Clooney here plays an ageing assassin: double crossed, on the run in Italy, and attempting one last job.
It’s a familiar set-up, but Corbijn’s filmmaking, while clearly indebted to 1970s European arthouse (specifically Antonioni’s The Passenger and Melville’s Le Samourai), with a liberal helping of The Day of the Jackal, transcends the familiar narrative.
Corbijn’s credentials as a major international photographer are foregrounded through his visually striking exploration of loneliness, regret and isolation.
Corbijn’s precise, pared down shooting style and slow, deliberate cutting, together with Clooney’s perfectly pitched character study of a man desperately striving for redemption after a lifetime of violence, proves a potent combination. The American is a refreshingly thoughtful and impeccably crafted adult thriller.
