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"A Most Wanted Man" (2014) - Philip Seymour Hoffman's last contribution to espionage
I admire Philip Seymour Hoffman. Ever since he had groundbreaking roles in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights" (1997) and Todd Solondz' "Happiness" (1998) I extensively followed his filmography. Last February he sadly committed suicide. What he left us is a library of phenomenal films, in which most of the time he was casted as a complex, multilayered character.
One of his last movies in which he starred was John Le Carré's espionage thriller "A Most Wanted Man", directed by Dutchman Anton Corbijn. I finally got to see it yesterday. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. Like John Le Carré's "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", this was not an action blockbuster in which espionage is being glorified as a glamour-esque millionaire's profession. Or a profession that needs Jason Bourne-esque chases to get the spy job done. No, foremost, this was another gripping espionage drama. Without the action, but with an intriguing plot set in post-9/11 Hamburg.
Seymour Hoffman plays German spy Günther Bachmann and has an already troubled relationship with the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND, the German MI6). Despite a troubled past in Beirut, he has still set his eyes on the Muslim filantropist Abdullah, who nowadays gives lectures to promote a peaceful enlightened Islam. With the Chechen Muslim asylum seeker Issa Karpov illegaly entering German soil, he sees the chance of his lifetime to expose Abdullah as nothing more than a Al Qaida terrorist money launderer.
I have simplified the plot a bit, but the reason why the plot works has to do with the settings in the real world. In this espionage drama there are no black-and-white villains. The tale shows us how certain immigrants abuse the comforts of Western prosperity for the sake of financing Islamic-fundamentalist terrorism (In a funny way, I do see some resemblance to Craig's outing as 007 in "Casino Royale" and "Skyfall", sans the action). It is happening today in a more visible way, when so many young Muslims in Europe and the USA get lured into fighting for IS-terrorists (Islamic State). And on top of that, the tale shows us that espionage will probably always stay a necessary profession for the sake of "making the world slightly safer" and to maintain Western prosperity. But, it is foremost about how you execute that profession, which you will see near the end of this movie.
This plot, and with it its political and cultural themes, are thoroughly executed by the charismatic Philip Seymour Hoffman. His portrayal of the flawed, chain-smoking, bourbon-drinking German spy works. It is as if you could actually meet this guy in a bar for a thought-provoking discussion about espionage on the whole. He is likeable, charming, but also a dead-serious realist. Seymour-Hoffman is supported by a stellar Hollywood cast that in this movie comes across very understated. This cast is stripped off from any stereotypical 'Hollywood-by-numbers-dialogues'. Robin Wright, already famous for her role in "House Of Cards", plays the CIA-agent Martha Sullivan. An operative that is stripped of from any stereotypical beauty. William Dafoe plays a Russian 'nouveau-riche' banker named Tommy Brue, also a marvelous understated but charismatic performance. The question rises here: What we all do for money?
But it is Rachel McAdams portrayal of a naïve leftist social worker, who, thanks to Seymour Hoffman, gets to know how the real world, stripped off from all its shades of black and white, works. Her role also makes you reflect on these complicated matters; matters related to the security of a nation.
"A Most Wanted Man" is a thought-provoking espionage drama, that makes you reflect on today's geopolitical events. Director Anton Corbijn, also a famed photographer, and cinematographer Benoît Delhomme take their time with all scenes and shots. The cold, grey, 1980's, East-German-esque settings and imageries add to the realism of the film. But foremost the acting in this drama oozes realism and necessary complexities. Robin Wright, Rachel McAdams and William Dafoe.....they all shine. But it is Philip-Seymour Hoffman, whose portrayal of Günther Bachmann is spot-on and makes us all sad that he won't appear anymore in more well-crafted espionage dramas.
Philip Seymour Hoffman will be greatly missed.
One of his last movies in which he starred was John Le Carré's espionage thriller "A Most Wanted Man", directed by Dutchman Anton Corbijn. I finally got to see it yesterday. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. Like John Le Carré's "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", this was not an action blockbuster in which espionage is being glorified as a glamour-esque millionaire's profession. Or a profession that needs Jason Bourne-esque chases to get the spy job done. No, foremost, this was another gripping espionage drama. Without the action, but with an intriguing plot set in post-9/11 Hamburg.
Seymour Hoffman plays German spy Günther Bachmann and has an already troubled relationship with the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND, the German MI6). Despite a troubled past in Beirut, he has still set his eyes on the Muslim filantropist Abdullah, who nowadays gives lectures to promote a peaceful enlightened Islam. With the Chechen Muslim asylum seeker Issa Karpov illegaly entering German soil, he sees the chance of his lifetime to expose Abdullah as nothing more than a Al Qaida terrorist money launderer.
I have simplified the plot a bit, but the reason why the plot works has to do with the settings in the real world. In this espionage drama there are no black-and-white villains. The tale shows us how certain immigrants abuse the comforts of Western prosperity for the sake of financing Islamic-fundamentalist terrorism (In a funny way, I do see some resemblance to Craig's outing as 007 in "Casino Royale" and "Skyfall", sans the action). It is happening today in a more visible way, when so many young Muslims in Europe and the USA get lured into fighting for IS-terrorists (Islamic State). And on top of that, the tale shows us that espionage will probably always stay a necessary profession for the sake of "making the world slightly safer" and to maintain Western prosperity. But, it is foremost about how you execute that profession, which you will see near the end of this movie.
This plot, and with it its political and cultural themes, are thoroughly executed by the charismatic Philip Seymour Hoffman. His portrayal of the flawed, chain-smoking, bourbon-drinking German spy works. It is as if you could actually meet this guy in a bar for a thought-provoking discussion about espionage on the whole. He is likeable, charming, but also a dead-serious realist. Seymour-Hoffman is supported by a stellar Hollywood cast that in this movie comes across very understated. This cast is stripped off from any stereotypical 'Hollywood-by-numbers-dialogues'. Robin Wright, already famous for her role in "House Of Cards", plays the CIA-agent Martha Sullivan. An operative that is stripped of from any stereotypical beauty. William Dafoe plays a Russian 'nouveau-riche' banker named Tommy Brue, also a marvelous understated but charismatic performance. The question rises here: What we all do for money?
But it is Rachel McAdams portrayal of a naïve leftist social worker, who, thanks to Seymour Hoffman, gets to know how the real world, stripped off from all its shades of black and white, works. Her role also makes you reflect on these complicated matters; matters related to the security of a nation.
"A Most Wanted Man" is a thought-provoking espionage drama, that makes you reflect on today's geopolitical events. Director Anton Corbijn, also a famed photographer, and cinematographer Benoît Delhomme take their time with all scenes and shots. The cold, grey, 1980's, East-German-esque settings and imageries add to the realism of the film. But foremost the acting in this drama oozes realism and necessary complexities. Robin Wright, Rachel McAdams and William Dafoe.....they all shine. But it is Philip-Seymour Hoffman, whose portrayal of Günther Bachmann is spot-on and makes us all sad that he won't appear anymore in more well-crafted espionage dramas.
Philip Seymour Hoffman will be greatly missed.
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Comments
Elaborate please. I am thrilled to read your arguments on why this movie is a "soppy miss".
Well......please apologize :-P
The great thing I find about Le Carrè stories is the way the slow burning nature actually holds you rather than makes you switch off. A lot of that is down to how well the central character is drawn, and Hoffman really made Bachmann pop.
In my opinion it was easier-to-watch than, let's say, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy". I like both movies a lot. And the latter is also visually a wunderful piece of art (Hoyte van Hoytema). But TTSS is for me much more complex...
If Corbijn captures this same type of pace and feel I'll no doubt enjoy this combined with the fact PSH is always very watchable, what a loss. Thought Control was brilliant and The American visually impressive with a great performance from Clooney so the pedigree is promising.
This will be a Blu ray viewing for me, Cinema is just too expensive these days.
Well, don't forget, Anton Corbij is foremost a professional photographer. As famous as Erwin Olav. You might check out his work here: http://antoncorbijn.com/
Also, some great photographical art from Corbijn:
And to finish, a great picture from Thekla Reuten, who starred opposite George Clooney in "The American". I still think she could play an awesome Bond-girl ;-):
http://www.abstractk.com/public/acidolatte/ErwinOlaf_2.jpg
Mod edit: the above picture fell slightly outside of what this forum finds to be safe for work. It's indeed an artistic picture; but a link will surely suffice for the curious. :-)
It's why the Dutch Queen, Maxima of Orange-Nassau, admires his work. And did on numerous occasions shoots for her:
Quite true - visually brilliant and they did a grand job of getting the story to fit a feature film time slot, but at the expense of there being time to assimilate the plot in real time.
I thought the BBC version was pretty dense at more than 5 hrs! (Still think, along with Smiley's People, it stands up to repeat viewing even today)
To me the movies' timeframe just doesn't do justice to this brilliant tale of trust and betrayal. You just don't get to know the characters good enough to really feel for them ( unlike the series,which still is gem ). Also I just don't understand why they - COMPLETELY UNNECESSARILY - complicated the plot further by letting the audience think Prideaux gets killed during his mission in Czechoslovakia. It's just doing nothing for story.
The illusion of Prideaux being killed was very short though. The audience knows he survived quite a while before Smiley finds him.
Which ones? Those from Anton Corbijn or Erwin Olaf?
Sorry, the ones from Erwin Olaf.
Grotesque they are indeed. But grotesque in that you like them ;-)? In a way they are as grotesque as Ken Adam's set designs no?
I've loved Anton Corbijn's photography for about 30 years, but this is the first time I've seen the name Erwin Olav. :P
He indeed is a great photographer. Would be great if Corbijn did a shoot with Daniel Craig ;-). By the way, what did you think of the film?
It appears not, but it wouldn't be clear to those that grabbed him at the end. They saw him as complicit in funneling the cash to Abdullah, however he was directed by Gunther and his crew to do so, so as to entrap Abdullah.
But it was only Gunther's crew, and we the audience, that really had a feel for Issa.
The Americans and the other German authorities weren't privy to the same understanding of Issa, that Gunther had.
So I can't quite villify the the Americans and Germans for grabbing the pair at the end. It was predictable. Gunther put the kid at risk by drawing him into his scheme to expose Abdullah.
I think I will read the book. Interesting story. Gunther's dilemma, I think is that his little band, really didn't have the power to be making the macro decisions.
The big dogs always had him on a short leash.
The kid got jerked around, but it really was inevitable. There is no way the big dogs, were going to take Gunther's word that the kid was an innocent.
They were determined to process him themselves. Gunther was actually IMO rather naive to think he could pull this off.
The overlords just gave him enough rope, to expose Abdullah for them, and then they moved in.
The ending was quite predictable I think.