markmuhl

It seems that movie-stars queue up when the Coen brothers make a movie or at least they don't say No when being asked to be a part of it. Anyway, the star line-up of this movie is almost unrivalled and creates expectations.

I would say that they can be met. It may not be the best Coen-movie, but it has the typical Coen ingredients which I do appreciate: an insane story line, weird characters and emphasis on the absurdity of life. A dismissed intelligence officer with alcohol problems, an incomprehensible wish for a cosmetic surgery, the exaggerated imagination of a simpleton and a lost USB-stick with secret service fragments are easily enough to start a chain-reaction into complete chaos which does not even make sense to CIA.

In all this chaos to me it is Frances McDormand that stands out with her performance but also Brad Pitt, George Clooney and John Malkovics are quite convincing in their roles as crazy guys, no matter how different their madness may be.

I would not have minded having some minutes more of that Coen Washington DC world because with a runtime of 90 minutes the film is a bit short. Oh well, no biggie!

I picked this movie because I wanted to see Giulietta Masina outside a Fellini film. It was a good choice, even though the role of Giulietta is not a major one, but the movie convinces as a film noir with elements of neorealismo.

Should not there be an antihero in a film noir, you may want to ask. Well, what about the main protagonist, the lawyer Roberto Marini, who may not be the classical cynical antihero, but his motives to take over the case are not really noble ones and on top he starts from being convinced of the poor being guilty and untruthful just because of their living conditions.

Unlike Masina's flawless performance Massimo Girotti's acting as Roberte Marini often appeared a bit stiff to me but being a former sport star he was often casted primarily because of his good looks. The lovely Marina Berti as his assistant, however, makes up ground in the acting respect.

I also liked the good illustration of the suburbia lifes of the poor, which is the neorealismo part of the movie. Especially the scenes next to the river with the 3 homeless men (one of them being a suspect) are quite memorable.

Overall, I do recommend the movie, but it should be obvious that a film from the 50's is in black and white and that the quality of picture and sound are not today's state of the art.