Double Feature

Managed to see two films this weekend. The first was The Clearing, a Robert Redford film based loosely on a true story of the kidnap and ransom of a wealthy businessman. After having read a glowing review in the San Francisco Chronicle (link here), I eagerly plunked down my nine dollars for this one. Redford films have always been a personal favorite. The Great Gatsby, All the President's Men, Three Days of the Condor, The Natural, A River Runs Through It, Sneakers, Spy Game, ad infinitem. Yes, even Barefoot in the Park. And while The Clearing had me engaged from start to finish, it was an engagement based heavily on anticipation. An anticipation that never found resolution or denouement. The film holds very little action or narrative drive, and its emphasis on character development and set pieces is more befitting a small scale theatrical play. The acting by Redford and Helen Mirren is superb however, and their ever-evolving relationship as husband and wife across time and space lies at the heart of the story. The film employs the device of time to great dramatic effect. It was also interesting to notice the similarities between the tycoon's estate in the movie and the real-life gated estates in nearby Hillsborough. The second movie, The Bourne Supremacy, was a welcome one-eighty. All action, all narrative drive, and little need for character development. This sequel definitely tops the original. The hired Russian assassin kicks arse. Thought it was amusing when he chases the Matt Damon character on a dirt road in Southern India in a brand-spanking-new silver Hyundai Sonata sedan, and Damon alerts his girlfriend that they are being pursued by a "silver Honda". Also noteworthy that the studio avoided any political ramifications of staying true to the Robert Ludlum book. The Ludlum book centers on the assassination of a high level Chinese politician. The filmmakers quietly changed the venue to Russia.