Interview a Masterful Conversation

Disgruntled reporter Pierre Peders (Steve Buscemi) isn’t exactly happy about his latest assignment. He’s used to tromping around war zones and skulking around Washington, D.C. looking for stories, so being sent by his editor to interview pop diva, television personality and movie star Katya (Sienna Miller) doesn’t bring a smile to his face. It’s a puff-piece, an assignment beneath his talents, but if he wants to keep his job then Pierre better make the best of it just get the conversation over and done with.

Steve Buscemi and Sienna Miller in Sony Pictures Classics' Interview

But all isn’t what it seems. When Pierre is slightly injured in a traffic accident inadvertently caused by Katya, she takes the injured reporter up to her spacious New York loft to get composed. Next thing you know the two are verbally sparring the night away, each taking the other into dark corners of their psyche they hadn’t anticipated doing. It’s an intellectual battle of wills, each using all of their wiles no matter what they might be to deal with the hidden, almost scarring pains they’re not exactly sure they want to reveal.

A remake of the great 2003 film of the same name by the late Dutch director Theo van Gogh, Interview is a witty, intelligent, sexy and highly entertaining My Dinner with Andre-type comedy that’s just about as good as these sorts of things can get. Director, actor and co-writer (working with freshman scribe David Schechter) Buscemi has really outdone himself here, this small-scale stunner one of the more refreshing and inventive surprises audiences are likely to discover this year.

While this is really nothing more than a two-person chamber piece (and would be more than at home performed on the stage), hopefully this isn’t a trait which is going to stop independent minded filmgoers from heading to the theater and taking it in. Both Buscemi and Miller are at the very top of their game, both of them turning in performances so sublime and multifaceted watching them evolve over the film’s 90-plus minutes is nothing less than a near-perfect joy.

In a way, it reminded me of the 1972 Lawrence Olivier/Michael Caine 1972 classic Sleuth (itself also being remade with Caine and Jude Law for release this Fall), and while it goes without saying neither of the actors here are quite in that Oscar-winning caliber the fact I can make the comparison should readily speak volumes. Like that film, this one is an articulate cat and mouse game played by two people doing their best to size the other one up in order to get the upper hand.

What is that upper hand? In this case, it isn’t so much life and fortune at stake as it is pride and interpersonal shelter. Both Pierre and Katya have demons they’d love to share with a caring soul, but both are so protective of their flaws they just can’t bear the thought of another ever getting through their concrete shielding. What they have to discover is whether or not their opponent can be trusted with their secrets, and even if they can they also have to pinpoint the exact amount of information to reveal before too much of their inner workings come flooding out like an emotional tsunami.

It goes without saying, that after Trees Lounge, Animal Factory and Lonesome Jim this is easily the most humorous, light-hearted and bouncy motion picture of Buscemi’s directorial career. The first of three van Gogh adaptations (Stanley Tucci and John Turturro will be directing the other two) to come out this year, Interview is freakishly entertaining. It’s mesmerizing on multiple levels, and by the time it was over the fun I was having was so palpable I’m sure it was showing all over my body.

Murdered in 2004 by religious extremist unhappy about some of his statements against radical Islam and by his short film (written by Dutch Member of Parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali) Submission: Part 1, American audiences never got the opportunity to experience just how brilliant van Gogh was. Through Buscemi’s remake my hope is that this is a travesty which will now be undone, cinema fans here hopefully being able to find copies of 1-900, Baby Blue and the original Interview out on DVD.

Until then, this version is more than acceptable. Buscemi has done a masterful job, this sprightly dramatic comedy engaging on so many levels it’s probably impossible to list them all. To my mind, Interview isn’t just good, it’s one of the best cinematic conversations I’ve had all Summer.

Film Rating:  êêê1/2  (out of 4)

Additional Links:

-  Interview with Steve Buscemi by Sara Michelle Fetters