The Interpreter | | Cast : | Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener | | Director : | Sydney Pollack | | Studio : | Universal Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | April 22, 2005 | | DVD Released Date : | October 04, 2005 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 05, 2005 | | Summary | The revenge in certain cases is not enough! | Content
 | Filmed in the superb building of the ONU, this film has overthrown possibly all the similar films, due its absorbing character.
A President of an African nation, has developed behind this mask of victim role, a very well built stage to trick the whole world his countless murederers beneath the well known argument of the National Security.
There are so many analogies with many nations in the world pitifully, but this compelling film focuses about not only the gradual process of political puzzle, but its inner and even outer consequences; that's the case in Silvia Brome who has lived the hell before her eyes, and tries by all means to guarantee the peace and the justice in her beloved country.
The long arm of the policial investigation will come perhaps with certain delay, and so meanwhile we will be the silnet witeness of a turbulent web of scandal, corruption, double cross and betray of the highest order.
Artur Penn will be the assigned officer whose mission will be working out as the bodyguard of Silvia while certain facts don't fit in her previous confession. She states she listened a whisper in which she has known about a possible attempt of homicide on the figure of the President, but someone watchs her and the tension acqires a multidimensional complexity.
Sidney Pollack made at last a solid, realist and passionate drama without restrictions playing hard with such script loaded of violence and undeniable actuality.
Don't miss it under any circumstance this overhelming picture! |
| Rating | | | Date | July 18, 2005 | | Summary | The Interpreter (2005) | Content
| Sydney Pollack presents us with a political thriller that is reminiscent of his films that he has graced us with in the past and which all shared one common thread. The personal struggle that leads to the catharsis whether or not the resolution (catharsis) of the political situation is achieved.
The film involves an assassination plot of a African country leader that is accidentally overheard by Silvia Broome, a U.N. interpreter portrayed by Nicole Kidman and the investigation that is carried by Tobin Keller, a Secret Service agent portrayed by Sean Penn.
Personal issues are uncovered throughout the process of the investigation hence the plot pleasantly thickens to a believable level without going overboard. Any, few to mention, predictable outcomes, are overshadowed by the lead performances that convey under toned emotions and maturely balanced issues; issues that would be too vague if one had to carry within and too melodramatic if one had to extend through outbursts of speaking their minds out loud.
Take note of the performances that are carried many times through facial expressions when any single word would be considered overacting.
One point that becomes a fashion in most of the Sydney Pollack films is that even though there is a resolution of personal issues, the people involved, the two lead characters separate their ways, either for "good" or for a "good period" of time.
In the first case the viewer is left at the end with the notion that there is no possibility that the two characters will cross paths. In the latter case the viewer is left at the end of the film with the notion that some further psychological mending needs to take place and then the two characters may take it from there.
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| Rating | | | Date | July 17, 2005 | | Summary | A Taut, Terrific Throwback to 1970s-Style Paranoia Thrillers | Content
| Despite mixed reviews, I wanted to see THE INTERPRETER as soon as I discovered the United Nations had actually allowed director Sydney Pollack unprecedented permission to film on location in the U.N. Building. Just seeing the inside of the U.N. Building for the first time since I moved from NYC would have made the film worth the price of admission for me, so I was pleasantly surprised when this story of a South African interpreter (Nicole Kidman) embroiled in an assassination plot when she overhears the wrong thing at the wrong time turned out to be a suspenseful, thought-provoking, character-driven thriller that builds up a nice head of paranoia. THE INTERPRETER's drama is primarily of the cerebral kind, almost a throwback to 1970s thrillers like THE PARALLAX VIEW and Pollack's own THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, which is not to say there aren't some suspenseful chases and set pieces. The jewel in its crown is a nail-bitingly tense sequence on a Brooklyn bus that recalls Alfred Hitchcock's SABOTAGE, even if it *did* beg the question of why an expatriate African political figure (LAYER CAKE's George Harris) involved in hot-button issues would let himself be seen going on a city bus as part of his daily routine, as seen in a newspaper in the film...but I digress...) I suspect that most of the negative reviews I'd heard came from folks who resent actually being asked to pay attention to dialogue instead of waiting for stuff to blow up real good. It was refreshing to see the evolution of the relationship between our heroine and the troubled, all-too-recently widowed Secret Service agent (Sean Penn, reminiscent of a young Marlon Brando here) who's assigned to protect her, their initial wariness thawing into a tender friendship without the pair actually tumbling into bed together. I've always found Penn a hard actor to warm up to, but Kidman's sympathetic presence has a good effect on him; the two work well together. I also liked that our heroine, who after all makes her living choosing words carefully, has many fascinating lines about the meaning of words and the nuances of language (one of my favorites: "If I interpreted `dead' as `gone,' I'd be out of a job. `Dead' and `gone' are two different things.") As Penn's fellow agent, Catherine Keener gets some choice dialogue, too; a scene-stealer in her offhanded way, she's like the Eve Arden of the Secret Service. If you're in the mood for an intelligent thriller concerned with issues and not just a rollercoaster ride on a movie screen, and filmed in ever-photogenic NYC to boot, THE INTERPRETER is very much worth seeing and hearing. I'm looking forward to getting ahold of the DVD this fall. (For what it's worth, my husband wondered why they didn't cast native South African Charlize Theron in the title role. I figured it was because she was busy making AEON FLUX, and besides, the role would be a bigger stretch for Nicole Kidman than for someone who already had a South African accent! :-) |
| Rating | | | Date | July 02, 2005 | | Summary | (3.5 STARS) Slick, Constantly Interesting Thriller, & Incredible Story | Content
| 'The Interpreter' has strong cast, slick direction, and authentic mood (the film being pastly shot in the real United Nations building). If the film had been shot in the 70s, the incredible story (and especially its ending) might have sounded more plausible. As it is, with today's more complex political situations surrounding the UN, 'The Interpreter' remains just an OK thriller -- entertaining, but ultimately unbelievable.
Of course, you don't have to make everything believable in thrillers, but I point out this obvious thing about reality because 'The Interpreter' starts with an excellent premise. While in a booth in the UN Headquarter in New York, an interpreter Silvia Bloom (Nicole Kidman) happens to overhear part of conversation (in one African fictional language Ku), which strongly suggest that one assassination plot is going on. And that assassination, as she learns later, might happen here, in the UN.
Consequently, security agent Tobin Keller is called in, who at first does not buy her story. However, as the story unfolds, several incidents happen to Silvia, and Tobin starts to guard her with his men, thinking that there is a possiblity that she is still lying to him, or to us audiences.
You get two superstars -- Nicole Kidman as UN translator, and Sean Penn as security guard. Both do not disappoint us, but I must say there is no chemstry between them. As the film is basically a thriller, well, I can ignore that flaw, but not this one, which is the film's too complicated and incredible story about assassnation.
Think about this. If you're a president of some country, and is being accused of tyranny (I hope you're not!), would you come all the way to New York City where most likely you will not be welcomed? And when you might be assassinated? His motive is explained in the end, which -- excuse me for using strong words, but ... which is an insult to our intelligence. And Nicole Kidman's character, at first a pretty credible one, gradually becomes awfully contrived and even ridiculous (sorry I cannot revela that part). Do you believe all of her 'past'?
Despite the great cast including Catherine Keener, Yvan Attal, Jesper Christensen, Earl Cameron, George Harris, Hugo Speer, Clyde Kusatsu, and Michael Wright, their characters are all pieces of a big puzzle, which is not uninteresting itself, and considering the complexity of the material, Sydney Pollack did a superb job with his slick direction (as in seen in 'The Firm'), but all in all I was not intrigued by the whole film, of which politics are outmoded, and even silly in this post 9/11 world. Good acting, lots of suspence, not-so-good story.
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| Rating | | | Date | June 29, 2005 | | Summary | engrossing, thoughtful, heart felt | Content
| It is a worthwhile way to spend an evening.
There is a plot, there is character development, there is suspense. Then there is New York City, swooping helicopter panoramic scenes of the UN complex along the river, and there are subdued scenes inside those buildings, from metal detectors to removing a cut circle of class from an enormous window. N.Kidman is dressed down the whole movie, in only a few places can her natural beauty shine through the fruminess, S.Pean is older, more chiseled face then i remember, the other cop a lady is entirely forgetable.
Everything is sacrificed to the continuity and slow step by step incrementalness of the action. You are aware that some details are left out so that you really know more than you think you do, that information is flowing from several directions at varying speeds, all designed to suck you up into the action and make you only aware of it. This makes the director and the writers key, and they are good, the plot doesn't lack for believability (looks like it is about Mugabe and Zimbabwe), casting such a blonde pale thin woman like Kidman as an African is excellent, the plot is sharpened and the irony heightened vs using a black women in the part. i'm sure it was controversial, it was a good choice.
You can think about the politics, about the brutality of black on black violence that has been the news in Africa for 75(?) years but the movie doesn't push it, nor does it preach strongly, it uses it. What it ends up with, in contrast to where the action takes place (the UN) is a mild this is a human problem that needs to be solved by all of humanity, not a black African one. The street scenes of NYCity add to the conviction that different people can live together, maybe, kindof, well hopefully.
I liked the movie, i didn't have the usual nagging regrets, it completely pulled me into it, the only problem is that S.Penn has such a history and such a past profile that i was never quite able to forgot that it was an actor playing a part.
I would have appreciated more African music in the background, the end was spectacular and i wanted more. I would have appreciated more early information about who the two men where in the beginning but i realize now that it was a deliberate technic to heighten the suspension |
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