'The American': Sex, Violence and....Silence?

Within the first 10 minutes of this movie, star (and producer) George Clooney has had sex and killed three persons (one them the sex partner he enjoyed the night before) before calmly heading to Rome, Italy.

Who were they? why did he kill them? Why did he feel threatened by them? Helmed by Anton Corbijn, this movie seems more skilled at raising questions, although that's not altogether a bad thing.

Of course, by the time Clooney's character links with his contact Larry (Bruce Altman of this fall’s Peter and Vandy), we've gathered that he is a contract killer. What then ensues is bit of a "working holiday" as Jack holes up in a small Italian town and relishes being away from death - but not far from weaponry - for a spell.
For Jack is hard at work (and quietly too), fabricating a special rifle for an assignment in which he is personally not invovled, as specified by a Belgian woman, Mathilde (Thekla Reuten of Focus’ award-winning In Bruges). Uncountable minutes pass in silence as Jack applies himself to the craft. The reverie is broken only by his surprising friendship with the local priest, Father Benedetto (Italian screen and stage veteran Paolo Bonacelli) and sex with local prostitute Clara (Italian leading lady Violante Placido).
Corbijn, hitherto known as the creative force behind videos for the likes of U2 and Depeche Mode, puts his prior photographic background to good use, giving us cobblestone lanes, and red-roof villas jumbled against hillside backdrops.

His deliberate pacing will faze many a local Jamaican viewer, weaned on thrill-a-minute action schlock (A Facebook discussion prior to this screening saw a youngster flat-out stating that "Clooney is for old people"). There is a chase (Clooney on Vespa, bad guy in compact), there is gunfire, and there is graphic nudity and some sex, but overall the film retains the coiled tension of the classic Euro-thrillers of the 70s and 80s.

In the words of Depeche Mode: enjoy the silence - and the spaces in between