American, The

Aroview: George Clooney stars a weary hit-man forced to lay low in the Italian countryside after a job goes wrong in this attractive though lugubrious thriller.

Director (and former rock photographer) Anton Corbijn once again has eye for image composition and a love for 'existential' European cinema of old, but he has less of a handle on character logic and engagement. An unsmiling George Clooney struggles to hold our sympathy as the "man alone" and his relationships with a priest, a prostitute and his boss are as old as the Italian hills, but at least these rustic vistas do carry one's attention to the inevitable end.

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