Unfortunately Sydney Pollack movies become more and more rare -because the director is more involved in producing films for others and in acting.
"The Interpreter" is not a bad film at all. I say this because the film is not fantastic -some points are not very credible. 30 years after the thriller masterpiece "The three days of the Condor", Pollack tells a story about a UN interpreter (Nicole Kidman) who intercepts a secret conversation about a future killing -apparently there's a plan to kill the president of the African state she's citizen of. A federal detective (Sean Penn), who's been widowed for some weeks, is given the task to investigate and to protect her.
The two actors are really great, and the film works without being boring. It's also interesting the fact that this is the first feature ever to be shot in the United Nations Headquarters -Hitchcock didn't get the permission to do that for "North by Northwest".
To me a well-known liberal director like Sydney Pollack could have been more biting with this film. The terrorist threat of our days is a hardly hinted theme, first.
Is it also credible the scene in which Kidman holds her African president as a hostage? As today there are millions of security rules and guards everywhere (especially during top political meetings), I don't think a UN employee could take easily a very protected man hostage. Policemen and secret agents look for potential assassins inside and outside the UN headquarter in New York, while Kidman is in a room of the same building alone with her prisoner...!
I also think that the personal drama of Sean Penn's character has no connection with the story. Is he kind to her only because he's widowed?
An above-average film, but I expected more from Pollack.
7/10
"The Interpreter" is not a bad film at all. I say this because the film is not fantastic -some points are not very credible. 30 years after the thriller masterpiece "The three days of the Condor", Pollack tells a story about a UN interpreter (Nicole Kidman) who intercepts a secret conversation about a future killing -apparently there's a plan to kill the president of the African state she's citizen of. A federal detective (Sean Penn), who's been widowed for some weeks, is given the task to investigate and to protect her.
The two actors are really great, and the film works without being boring. It's also interesting the fact that this is the first feature ever to be shot in the United Nations Headquarters -Hitchcock didn't get the permission to do that for "North by Northwest".
To me a well-known liberal director like Sydney Pollack could have been more biting with this film. The terrorist threat of our days is a hardly hinted theme, first.
Is it also credible the scene in which Kidman holds her African president as a hostage? As today there are millions of security rules and guards everywhere (especially during top political meetings), I don't think a UN employee could take easily a very protected man hostage. Policemen and secret agents look for potential assassins inside and outside the UN headquarter in New York, while Kidman is in a room of the same building alone with her prisoner...!
I also think that the personal drama of Sean Penn's character has no connection with the story. Is he kind to her only because he's widowed?
An above-average film, but I expected more from Pollack.
7/10