by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
B+ Rated R 83 min
In 2003, Dutch director Theo van Gogh had developed this project, but was assassinated by Islamic extremists before it came to fruition. His producers went ahead with the film as a tribute. Then Steve Buscemi got involved and, along with his writing partner David Schechter, rewrote the screenplay for American audiences. Buscemi directed and co-starred with Sienna Miller in this psychological duel between a journalist and a young female movie star.
The play-like setting was tweaked to include a few more scenes, but most of the story takes place in Katya’s (Miller) loft apartment. Buscemi plays Pierre Peders, a political journalist who writes for a major daily. He has a falling-out with his editor, and is consequently assigned a fluff piece. He must interview a Lindsey Lohan-like starlet named Katya (Sienna Miller), who is more famous for her endless partying and fluxuating breast size than her acting. It’s the type of story Pierre hates, and his trip to Washington DC is cancelled while someone else gets the assignment to appear on a major TV news show.
Pissed off by having to pay penitence, Pierre goes to a restaurant to meet Katya, but she’s more than an hour late. He didn’t bother to find out anything about her, and his interview is obviously skin-deep. Soon, Katya realizes he is not prepared, so she storms off yelling insults at him. As she leaves the restaurant, Pierre’s cab gets in an accident right in front of her. He hits his head and is shaken up. So, feeling sorry for him, she takes him back to her loft to help him. Thus begins the strange dialogue between them, and it becomes apparent that things are not what they seem.
At first, Katya is nice to Pierre, getting him a scotch and ice for his head. Pierre realizes he may have a rare opportunity to interview Tanya with her defenses down. So, he probes a bit to see if she will open up. After a few drinks, she starts to relax and the two develop a grudging respect for one another. As it turns out, she is a much better actress than movie critics gave her credit for, and for Pierre, it’s hard to tell when she’s acting or being real.
Katya acts out like a spoiled adolescent. Her cell phone ring sounds like a barking dog, which is annoying. Her boyfriend calls her incessantly but she puts him off. Secretly, her guest intrigues her, and she probes his consciousness to learn about his motivations. The thrust of the premise is: Katya is much more intelligent and street savvy than Pierre thought. She uses this tête-à-tête to create an improvised scenario. In other words, she is putting-on Pierre with her clever conversation and acting talent.
Pierre never suspects that Katya is manipulating him as she spins her BS, and he eats it up trying to get it on tape. She even makes a play to seduce him, but he wisely rejects this tactic. The two verbally thrust and parry hoping to get the advantage, but their duel appears to end in a draw.
The scenario was conceived to showcase two actors in one setting, like a play, but Buscemi’s orchestration of the scenes and the large loft apartment opens up the space limitations of the script. The barking phone calls serve as scene dividers, frequently interrupting their conversation.
As the story unfolds, viewers realize that Katya is clever and cunning as she allows Pierre to get dirt on her. But she is feeding him misinformation and getting off on dominating him with her guile and devious nature. If she can do this to one person, she can do this to others. In other words, she created the character of Katya–the party girl obsessed with her own breasts. The question viewers will ask is: Is Katya strictly a character she created to mask her real self? Eventually, Pierre will ask the same question.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
