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Wow. I didn’t know what to expect. The buzz in the air was that this was a comedic,
sometimes dramatic look at the evolution of Adolph Hitler,
played by Noah Taylor.
Well, it was more like a dramatic, occasionally comedic
look at Hitler and his relationship with Max Rothman,
a jewish art dealer of such notables as Max Ernst, Paul
Klee and Georg Grosz.
I don’t want
to tell you too much, but the thing that really took me by
surprise about this film was how gentle and lovely and emotionally
complex this journey was. Max has only one arm, having lost his right
arm in service for his country.
He has his own shattered dreams and challenging aspirations
to deal with before Hitler stumbles into his life.
And so begins the waltz for both men.
Nothing is obvious, yet nothing has that feel of a
film trying to be different for the sake of its own preciousness.
Cusack is
at the top of his game as a man of breeding, taste and real
caring. Noah Taylor has his career-best role and hits it out of the
park. And supporting
actresses Leelee Sobieski and Molly Parker shine…
especially Sobieski, who convincingly plays a post-teen woman
for the first time I remember.
Menno
Meyjes, who has had a very successful career as a screenwriter,
does a solid job behind the camera, never getting caught trying
too hard or missing any of the basic rules of filmmaking. Actually, that’s damning with too-faint praise.
He does an excellent job. He’s not a style guy and he doesn’t quite have
the strokes of Brad Silberling or White Oleander’s
Peter Kosminsky. But
really nice work. And,
as a writer of an original script, he’s almost like the sane
version of Charlie Kaufman. His work provokes, but never chafes.
I’m looking
forward to seeing Max again and again.
I don’t have the passion for it that I have for City
of God, but I can feel it staying with me… and it lingers
still…
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