Exclusive: As the FilmNation Entertainment team gathered in Santa Monica this week for the American Film Market, some reflection is in order. It has been 15 years since Glen Basner started the venture. Despite the hardships facing everyone at AFM with strikes and uncertainty, what a different a decade and a half makes. The launch happened in 2008, not the most fortuitous time to launch an indie film finance and production company with global ambitions.
“Back then, Summit and Mandate were the two top companies in the space,” Basner recalled when assessing the opportunity to launch a company back then. “Mandate was sold to Lionsgate and became a U.S. distributor, and Summit started their own U.S. distribution company. There was a hole in the marketplace we thought we could fill, and become that leading American international sales agent for feature films that had no connection to the U.S. distribution world.
“Back then, Summit and Mandate were the two top companies in the space,” Basner recalled when assessing the opportunity to launch a company back then. “Mandate was sold to Lionsgate and became a U.S. distributor, and Summit started their own U.S. distribution company. There was a hole in the marketplace we thought we could fill, and become that leading American international sales agent for feature films that had no connection to the U.S. distribution world.
- 11/2/2023
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
This review was written for the theatrical release of "In the Valley of Elah".Paul Haggis has not only avoided the dreaded sophomore slump, but the director and co-writer of the Oscar-winning "Crash" has returned with another bona-fide contender.
Ostensibly a murder-mystery set against the backdrop of the war in Iraq, "In the Valley of Elah" is a deeply reflective, quietly powerful work that is as timely as it is moving.
Further graced by an exceptional Tommy Lee Jones lead performance that would have to be considered one of the finest in the 60-year-old actor's career, the Warner Independent release is getting a little preliminary festival exposure at Venice and Toronto before opening in limited engagements on Sept. 14.
Strong word-of-mouth should ensure that the film plays well into awards season.
For those not up on their Old Testament, "In the Valley of Elah" refers to the place where David slew Goliath. It's an apt metaphor for the battle undertaken by Jones, as a grieving father fighting his way through a bureaucratic quagmire in search of the truth, and by the young men and women who are facing insurmountable odds of emerging physically and/or emotionally unscathed from an increasingly controversial conflict.
Jones' Hank Deerfield is a former military MP who receives a call that his son, Mike Jonathan Tucker, in flashbacks) has gone AWOL after returning from active duty in Iraq. When the elder Deerfield shows up in Albuquerque, N.M., to conduct his own personal investigation, it's subsequently discovered that his son has been a victim of foul play.
In his efforts to find out what really happened, Hank initially butts heads with Emily Sanders (a no-nonsense Charlize Theron), a recently promoted police detective who is fighting a couple of battles of her own -- against the close-knit military brass, and for respect from her colleagues, who make unsubtle intimations about her relationship with her boss (Josh Brolin).
As Hank stubbornly soldiers on, Emily eventually lends her support. As the two begin to piece together the events that led up to Mike's disappearance, Hank is also forced to take stock of his own belief system.
In part an adaptation of a Playboy magazine article by Mark Boal called "Death and Dishonor", the Haggis version is an eloquently written portrait of a man clinging to logic during a time of confusion and turmoil.
With equal amounts bravado, anguish and, ultimately, remorse filling the crevices of his world-weary visage, Jones never has been better; Theron also effectively portrays the multifaceted dimensions of a single mother and small-town detective whose tough exterior conceals a considerable amount of vulnerable self-doubt.
Making the most of the few scenes she has, Susan Sarandon is affecting as Jones' dutiful wife, while Frances Fisher does likewise as a topless bartender who provides Jones with some valuable leads.
Production values are equally accomplished, from cinematographer Roger Deakins' stirring visual compositions to production designer Laurence Bennett's tarnished Americana to Mark Isham's achingly poignant, string-laden score.
IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH
Warner Independent Pictures
Warner Independent Pictures presents in association with Nala Films, Summit Entertainment and Samuels Media, a Blackfriar's Bridge production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Paul Haggis
Producers: Paul Haggis, Laurence Becsey, Patrick Wachsberger, Steven Samuels, Darlene Caamano Loquet
Executive producers: Emilio Diez Barroso, Bob Hayward, David Garrett, Erik Feig, James Holt, Stan Wlodkowski
Director of photography: Roger Deakins
Production designer: Laurence Bennett
Music: Mark Isham
Costume designer: Lisa Jensen
Editor: Jo Francis
Cast:
Hank Deerfield: Tommy Lee Jones
Det. Emily Sanders: Charlize Theron
Joan Deerfield: Susan Sarandon
Sgt. Carnelli: James Franco
Mike Deerfield: Jonathan Tucker
Evie: Frances Fisher
Lt. Kirklander: Jason Patric
Chief Buchwald: Josh Brolin
Cpl. Penning: Wes Chatham
Running time -- 120 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Ostensibly a murder-mystery set against the backdrop of the war in Iraq, "In the Valley of Elah" is a deeply reflective, quietly powerful work that is as timely as it is moving.
Further graced by an exceptional Tommy Lee Jones lead performance that would have to be considered one of the finest in the 60-year-old actor's career, the Warner Independent release is getting a little preliminary festival exposure at Venice and Toronto before opening in limited engagements on Sept. 14.
Strong word-of-mouth should ensure that the film plays well into awards season.
For those not up on their Old Testament, "In the Valley of Elah" refers to the place where David slew Goliath. It's an apt metaphor for the battle undertaken by Jones, as a grieving father fighting his way through a bureaucratic quagmire in search of the truth, and by the young men and women who are facing insurmountable odds of emerging physically and/or emotionally unscathed from an increasingly controversial conflict.
Jones' Hank Deerfield is a former military MP who receives a call that his son, Mike Jonathan Tucker, in flashbacks) has gone AWOL after returning from active duty in Iraq. When the elder Deerfield shows up in Albuquerque, N.M., to conduct his own personal investigation, it's subsequently discovered that his son has been a victim of foul play.
In his efforts to find out what really happened, Hank initially butts heads with Emily Sanders (a no-nonsense Charlize Theron), a recently promoted police detective who is fighting a couple of battles of her own -- against the close-knit military brass, and for respect from her colleagues, who make unsubtle intimations about her relationship with her boss (Josh Brolin).
As Hank stubbornly soldiers on, Emily eventually lends her support. As the two begin to piece together the events that led up to Mike's disappearance, Hank is also forced to take stock of his own belief system.
In part an adaptation of a Playboy magazine article by Mark Boal called "Death and Dishonor", the Haggis version is an eloquently written portrait of a man clinging to logic during a time of confusion and turmoil.
With equal amounts bravado, anguish and, ultimately, remorse filling the crevices of his world-weary visage, Jones never has been better; Theron also effectively portrays the multifaceted dimensions of a single mother and small-town detective whose tough exterior conceals a considerable amount of vulnerable self-doubt.
Making the most of the few scenes she has, Susan Sarandon is affecting as Jones' dutiful wife, while Frances Fisher does likewise as a topless bartender who provides Jones with some valuable leads.
Production values are equally accomplished, from cinematographer Roger Deakins' stirring visual compositions to production designer Laurence Bennett's tarnished Americana to Mark Isham's achingly poignant, string-laden score.
IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH
Warner Independent Pictures
Warner Independent Pictures presents in association with Nala Films, Summit Entertainment and Samuels Media, a Blackfriar's Bridge production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Paul Haggis
Producers: Paul Haggis, Laurence Becsey, Patrick Wachsberger, Steven Samuels, Darlene Caamano Loquet
Executive producers: Emilio Diez Barroso, Bob Hayward, David Garrett, Erik Feig, James Holt, Stan Wlodkowski
Director of photography: Roger Deakins
Production designer: Laurence Bennett
Music: Mark Isham
Costume designer: Lisa Jensen
Editor: Jo Francis
Cast:
Hank Deerfield: Tommy Lee Jones
Det. Emily Sanders: Charlize Theron
Joan Deerfield: Susan Sarandon
Sgt. Carnelli: James Franco
Mike Deerfield: Jonathan Tucker
Evie: Frances Fisher
Lt. Kirklander: Jason Patric
Chief Buchwald: Josh Brolin
Cpl. Penning: Wes Chatham
Running time -- 120 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 8/31/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This review was written for the festival screening of "Michael Clayton".Venice International Film Festival
For the last seven years, screenwriter Tony Gilroy has meticulously constructed the Bourne trilogy, a superb series that see amnesia victim Matt Damon dashing through increasingly thrilling episodes to discover his identity as basically a bad guy. In "Michael Clayton", his directing debut, which he also wrote, Gilroy has reduced his formula to a single film: The eponymous Michael Clayton hurries -- dashes would be too strong a word -- through increasingly dangerous episodes to learn what he probably already knows, that by doing the dirty work of pond scum he is little more than a bad guy himself.
As with the Bourne films, Gilroy has a knack for creating strong characters and situations that resonate with tension. It may be formula, but the guy is a solid chemist as he crafts excellent set-ups and payoffs, and he has mastered those "ah-hah" moments when everything locks into place. With newly Oscar-anointed George Clooney heading a cast who love to roll up their sleeves to dig into their roles, "Michael Clayton" should perform well above average for Warner Bros.
Maybe all large corporate law firms have guys like Michael. He calls himself a "janitor." He is a lawyer, but his "niche," as the Manhattan firm's co-founder Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack) so delicately puts it, is to clean up messes by the firm's motley clients.
While driving back from a cleaning job in upstate New York, Michael unaccountably stops on a lonely road to observe a trio of horses. (This is one of several plot holes.) Suddenly, his car blows up. Someone has tried to kill him!
Backtrack four days. Near the conclusion of a six-year class-action suit against an agrochemical client, the firm's top litigator, Arthur Evans (Tom Wilkinson), who is on the road and about to pull off a pretrial settlement, suffers a movie-attorney meltdown, the kind real-life lawyers never have: Like Al Pacino in "... And Justice For All," Arthur discovers that his client is guilty as Hell, and he wants to make amends. A manic-depressive and off his meds, he is switching sides. He is also behaving strangely as he performs a strip tease during a deposition.
Michael rushes to the Midwest to rescue mad Arthur from lock-up. Arthur slips from his custody and gets back to Manhattan where he holes up in his loft and makes surreptitious phone calls to a female plaintive.
Meanwhile, Michael's own life is in freefall. A serious gambling addict, he has decided to gamble instead on a restaurant venture, which his alcoholic brother has run into the ground. He owes $75,000 to some apparently bad guys and makes a devil's bargain to turn the Arthur situation around for a bailout by the firm.
The agrochemical company's chief counsel Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), so anxious and overwhelmed by her knowledge of the firm's culpability and, by implication, her own shortcomings, panics. She hires shady characters to take care of loose-cannon Arthur. Following this much more noxious type of cleaning job, the shady characters can't help noticing Michael snooping around to learn the truth behind his friend's demise. Thus, the maladroit car bomb.
All of this cloak-and-dagger melodrama is designed to make Michael question what kind of man he has become in the firm's "niche." "What are you?" asks Arthur. "You know exactly what you are", spits his cop-brother in another scene.
A question you may ask yourself: Why a car bomb? Isn't that rather clumsy and attention-getting in the midst of a delicate legal settlement? And why on earth do the hoods stake out the sealed loft of the deceased?
Funnily enough, you ask these questions only after the credits roll. Until then, you are genuinely caught up in the thriller, as Gilroy proves a decent director of his own literary inventions. He trusts his actors, and they return the favor with solid characterizations down even to small roles.
A clutch of major directors who signed on to produce -- Pollack, Steven Soderbergh and Anthony Minghella -- make sure Gilroy is surrounded by pros: Cinematographer Robert Elswit keeps things crisp and immaculate. Designer Kevin Thompson makes every set and location an eye-grabber. James Newton Howard never intrudes with his score but keeps the tension subtly building. And Gilroy's own editor-brother John has nicely stitched together the often complex scenes.
MICHAEL CLAYTON
Warner Bros.
Warners Bros Pictures presents in association with Samuels Media and Castle Rock Entertainment a Mirage Enterprises/Section Eight production
Writer/director: Tony Gilroy
Producers: Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox, Steven Samuels, Kerry Orent;
Executive producers: Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney, James Hold, Anthony Minghella
Director of photography: Robert Elswit
Production designer: Kevin Thompson
Music: James Newton Howard
Costume designer: Sarah Edwards
Editor: John Gilroy.
Cast:
Michael Clayton: George Clooney
Arthur Edens: Tom Wilkinson
Karen Crowder: Tilda Swinton
Marty Bach: Sydney Pollack
Barry Grissom: Michael O'Keefe
Don Jefferies: Ken Howard
MPAA rating: R, running time 120 minutes.
For the last seven years, screenwriter Tony Gilroy has meticulously constructed the Bourne trilogy, a superb series that see amnesia victim Matt Damon dashing through increasingly thrilling episodes to discover his identity as basically a bad guy. In "Michael Clayton", his directing debut, which he also wrote, Gilroy has reduced his formula to a single film: The eponymous Michael Clayton hurries -- dashes would be too strong a word -- through increasingly dangerous episodes to learn what he probably already knows, that by doing the dirty work of pond scum he is little more than a bad guy himself.
As with the Bourne films, Gilroy has a knack for creating strong characters and situations that resonate with tension. It may be formula, but the guy is a solid chemist as he crafts excellent set-ups and payoffs, and he has mastered those "ah-hah" moments when everything locks into place. With newly Oscar-anointed George Clooney heading a cast who love to roll up their sleeves to dig into their roles, "Michael Clayton" should perform well above average for Warner Bros.
Maybe all large corporate law firms have guys like Michael. He calls himself a "janitor." He is a lawyer, but his "niche," as the Manhattan firm's co-founder Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack) so delicately puts it, is to clean up messes by the firm's motley clients.
While driving back from a cleaning job in upstate New York, Michael unaccountably stops on a lonely road to observe a trio of horses. (This is one of several plot holes.) Suddenly, his car blows up. Someone has tried to kill him!
Backtrack four days. Near the conclusion of a six-year class-action suit against an agrochemical client, the firm's top litigator, Arthur Evans (Tom Wilkinson), who is on the road and about to pull off a pretrial settlement, suffers a movie-attorney meltdown, the kind real-life lawyers never have: Like Al Pacino in "... And Justice For All," Arthur discovers that his client is guilty as Hell, and he wants to make amends. A manic-depressive and off his meds, he is switching sides. He is also behaving strangely as he performs a strip tease during a deposition.
Michael rushes to the Midwest to rescue mad Arthur from lock-up. Arthur slips from his custody and gets back to Manhattan where he holes up in his loft and makes surreptitious phone calls to a female plaintive.
Meanwhile, Michael's own life is in freefall. A serious gambling addict, he has decided to gamble instead on a restaurant venture, which his alcoholic brother has run into the ground. He owes $75,000 to some apparently bad guys and makes a devil's bargain to turn the Arthur situation around for a bailout by the firm.
The agrochemical company's chief counsel Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), so anxious and overwhelmed by her knowledge of the firm's culpability and, by implication, her own shortcomings, panics. She hires shady characters to take care of loose-cannon Arthur. Following this much more noxious type of cleaning job, the shady characters can't help noticing Michael snooping around to learn the truth behind his friend's demise. Thus, the maladroit car bomb.
All of this cloak-and-dagger melodrama is designed to make Michael question what kind of man he has become in the firm's "niche." "What are you?" asks Arthur. "You know exactly what you are", spits his cop-brother in another scene.
A question you may ask yourself: Why a car bomb? Isn't that rather clumsy and attention-getting in the midst of a delicate legal settlement? And why on earth do the hoods stake out the sealed loft of the deceased?
Funnily enough, you ask these questions only after the credits roll. Until then, you are genuinely caught up in the thriller, as Gilroy proves a decent director of his own literary inventions. He trusts his actors, and they return the favor with solid characterizations down even to small roles.
A clutch of major directors who signed on to produce -- Pollack, Steven Soderbergh and Anthony Minghella -- make sure Gilroy is surrounded by pros: Cinematographer Robert Elswit keeps things crisp and immaculate. Designer Kevin Thompson makes every set and location an eye-grabber. James Newton Howard never intrudes with his score but keeps the tension subtly building. And Gilroy's own editor-brother John has nicely stitched together the often complex scenes.
MICHAEL CLAYTON
Warner Bros.
Warners Bros Pictures presents in association with Samuels Media and Castle Rock Entertainment a Mirage Enterprises/Section Eight production
Writer/director: Tony Gilroy
Producers: Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox, Steven Samuels, Kerry Orent;
Executive producers: Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney, James Hold, Anthony Minghella
Director of photography: Robert Elswit
Production designer: Kevin Thompson
Music: James Newton Howard
Costume designer: Sarah Edwards
Editor: John Gilroy.
Cast:
Michael Clayton: George Clooney
Arthur Edens: Tom Wilkinson
Karen Crowder: Tilda Swinton
Marty Bach: Sydney Pollack
Barry Grissom: Michael O'Keefe
Don Jefferies: Ken Howard
MPAA rating: R, running time 120 minutes.
- 8/31/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Venice International Film Festival
For the last seven years, screenwriter Tony Gilroy has meticulously constructed the Bourne trilogy, a superb series that see amnesia victim Matt Damon dashing through increasingly thrilling episodes to discover his identity as basically a bad guy. In Michael Clayton, his directing debut, which he also wrote, Gilroy has reduced his formula to a single film: The eponymous Michael Clayton hurries -- dashes would be too strong a word -- through increasingly dangerous episodes to learn what he probably already knows, that by doing the dirty work of pond scum he is little more than a bad guy himself.
As with the Bourne films, Gilroy has a knack for creating strong characters and situations that resonate with tension. It may be formula, but the guy is a solid chemist as he crafts excellent set-ups and payoffs, and he has mastered those "ah-hah" moments when everything locks into place. With newly Oscar-anointed George Clooney heading a cast who love to roll up their sleeves to dig into their roles, Michael Clayton should perform well above average for Warner Bros.
Maybe all large corporate law firms have guys like Michael. He calls himself a "janitor." He is a lawyer, but his "niche," as the Manhattan firm's co-founder Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack) so delicately puts it, is to clean up messes by the firm's motley clients.
While driving back from a cleaning job in upstate New York, Michael unaccountably stops on a lonely road to observe a trio of horses. (This is one of several plot holes.) Suddenly, his car blows up. Someone has tried to kill him!
Backtrack four days. Near the conclusion of a six-year class-action suit against an agrochemical client, the firm's top litigator, Arthur Evans (Tom Wilkinson), who is on the road and about to pull off a pretrial settlement, suffers a movie-attorney meltdown, the kind real-life lawyers never have: Like Al Pacino in "... And Justice For All," Arthur discovers that his client is guilty as Hell, and he wants to make amends. A manic-depressive and off his meds, he is switching sides. He is also behaving strangely as he performs a strip tease during a deposition.
Michael rushes to the Midwest to rescue mad Arthur from lock-up. Arthur slips from his custody and gets back to Manhattan where he holes up in his loft and makes surreptitious phone calls to a female plaintive.
Meanwhile, Michael's own life is in freefall. A serious gambling addict, he has decided to gamble instead on a restaurant venture, which his alcoholic brother has run into the ground. He owes $75,000 to some apparently bad guys and makes a devil's bargain to turn the Arthur situation around for a bailout by the firm.
The agrochemical company's chief counsel Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), so anxious and overwhelmed by her knowledge of the firm's culpability and, by implication, her own shortcomings, panics. She hires shady characters to take care of loose-cannon Arthur. Following this much more noxious type of cleaning job, the shady characters can't help noticing Michael snooping around to learn the truth behind his friend's demise. Thus, the maladroit car bomb.
All of this cloak-and-dagger melodrama is designed to make Michael question what kind of man he has become in the firm's "niche." "What are you?" asks Arthur. You know exactly what you are, spits his cop-brother in another scene.
A question you may ask yourself: Why a car bomb? Isn't that rather clumsy and attention-getting in the midst of a delicate legal settlement? And why on earth do the hoods stake out the sealed loft of the deceased?
Funnily enough, you ask these questions only after the credits roll. Until then, you are genuinely caught up in the thriller, as Gilroy proves a decent director of his own literary inventions. He trusts his actors, and they return the favor with solid characterizations down even to small roles.
A clutch of major directors who signed on to produce -- Pollack, Steven Soderbergh and Anthony Minghella -- make sure Gilroy is surrounded by pros: Cinematographer Robert Elswit keeps things crisp and immaculate. Designer Kevin Thompson makes every set and location an eye-grabber. James Newton Howard never intrudes with his score but keeps the tension subtly building. And Gilroy's own editor-brother John has nicely stitched together the often complex scenes.
MICHAEL CLAYTON
Warner Bros.
Warners Bros Pictures presents in association with Samuels Media and Castle Rock Entertainment a Mirage Enterprises/Section Eight production
Writer/director: Tony Gilroy
Producers: Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox, Steven Samuels, Kerry Orent;
Executive producers: Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney, James Hold, Anthony Minghella
Director of photography: Robert Elswit
Production designer: Kevin Thompson
Music: James Newton Howard
Costume designer: Sarah Edwards
Editor: John Gilroy.
Cast:
Michael Clayton: George Clooney
Arthur Edens: Tom Wilkinson
Karen Crowder: Tilda Swinton
Marty Bach: Sydney Pollack
Barry Grissom: Michael O'Keefe
Don Jefferies: Ken Howard
MPAA rating: R, running time 120 minutes.
For the last seven years, screenwriter Tony Gilroy has meticulously constructed the Bourne trilogy, a superb series that see amnesia victim Matt Damon dashing through increasingly thrilling episodes to discover his identity as basically a bad guy. In Michael Clayton, his directing debut, which he also wrote, Gilroy has reduced his formula to a single film: The eponymous Michael Clayton hurries -- dashes would be too strong a word -- through increasingly dangerous episodes to learn what he probably already knows, that by doing the dirty work of pond scum he is little more than a bad guy himself.
As with the Bourne films, Gilroy has a knack for creating strong characters and situations that resonate with tension. It may be formula, but the guy is a solid chemist as he crafts excellent set-ups and payoffs, and he has mastered those "ah-hah" moments when everything locks into place. With newly Oscar-anointed George Clooney heading a cast who love to roll up their sleeves to dig into their roles, Michael Clayton should perform well above average for Warner Bros.
Maybe all large corporate law firms have guys like Michael. He calls himself a "janitor." He is a lawyer, but his "niche," as the Manhattan firm's co-founder Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack) so delicately puts it, is to clean up messes by the firm's motley clients.
While driving back from a cleaning job in upstate New York, Michael unaccountably stops on a lonely road to observe a trio of horses. (This is one of several plot holes.) Suddenly, his car blows up. Someone has tried to kill him!
Backtrack four days. Near the conclusion of a six-year class-action suit against an agrochemical client, the firm's top litigator, Arthur Evans (Tom Wilkinson), who is on the road and about to pull off a pretrial settlement, suffers a movie-attorney meltdown, the kind real-life lawyers never have: Like Al Pacino in "... And Justice For All," Arthur discovers that his client is guilty as Hell, and he wants to make amends. A manic-depressive and off his meds, he is switching sides. He is also behaving strangely as he performs a strip tease during a deposition.
Michael rushes to the Midwest to rescue mad Arthur from lock-up. Arthur slips from his custody and gets back to Manhattan where he holes up in his loft and makes surreptitious phone calls to a female plaintive.
Meanwhile, Michael's own life is in freefall. A serious gambling addict, he has decided to gamble instead on a restaurant venture, which his alcoholic brother has run into the ground. He owes $75,000 to some apparently bad guys and makes a devil's bargain to turn the Arthur situation around for a bailout by the firm.
The agrochemical company's chief counsel Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), so anxious and overwhelmed by her knowledge of the firm's culpability and, by implication, her own shortcomings, panics. She hires shady characters to take care of loose-cannon Arthur. Following this much more noxious type of cleaning job, the shady characters can't help noticing Michael snooping around to learn the truth behind his friend's demise. Thus, the maladroit car bomb.
All of this cloak-and-dagger melodrama is designed to make Michael question what kind of man he has become in the firm's "niche." "What are you?" asks Arthur. You know exactly what you are, spits his cop-brother in another scene.
A question you may ask yourself: Why a car bomb? Isn't that rather clumsy and attention-getting in the midst of a delicate legal settlement? And why on earth do the hoods stake out the sealed loft of the deceased?
Funnily enough, you ask these questions only after the credits roll. Until then, you are genuinely caught up in the thriller, as Gilroy proves a decent director of his own literary inventions. He trusts his actors, and they return the favor with solid characterizations down even to small roles.
A clutch of major directors who signed on to produce -- Pollack, Steven Soderbergh and Anthony Minghella -- make sure Gilroy is surrounded by pros: Cinematographer Robert Elswit keeps things crisp and immaculate. Designer Kevin Thompson makes every set and location an eye-grabber. James Newton Howard never intrudes with his score but keeps the tension subtly building. And Gilroy's own editor-brother John has nicely stitched together the often complex scenes.
MICHAEL CLAYTON
Warner Bros.
Warners Bros Pictures presents in association with Samuels Media and Castle Rock Entertainment a Mirage Enterprises/Section Eight production
Writer/director: Tony Gilroy
Producers: Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox, Steven Samuels, Kerry Orent;
Executive producers: Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney, James Hold, Anthony Minghella
Director of photography: Robert Elswit
Production designer: Kevin Thompson
Music: James Newton Howard
Costume designer: Sarah Edwards
Editor: John Gilroy.
Cast:
Michael Clayton: George Clooney
Arthur Edens: Tom Wilkinson
Karen Crowder: Tilda Swinton
Marty Bach: Sydney Pollack
Barry Grissom: Michael O'Keefe
Don Jefferies: Ken Howard
MPAA rating: R, running time 120 minutes.
- 8/31/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Paul Haggis has not only avoided the dreaded sophomore slump, but the director and co-writer of the Oscar-winning Crash has returned with another bona-fide contender.
Ostensibly a murder-mystery set against the backdrop of the war in Iraq, In the Valley of Elah is a deeply reflective, quietly powerful work that is as timely as it is moving.
Further graced by an exceptional Tommy Lee Jones lead performance that would have to be considered one of the finest in the 60-year-old actor's career, the Warner Independent release is getting a little preliminary festival exposure at Venice and Toronto before opening in limited engagements on Sept. 14.
Strong word-of-mouth should ensure that the film plays well into awards season.
For those not up on their Old Testament, In the Valley of Elah refers to the place where David slew Goliath. It's an apt metaphor for the battle undertaken by Jones, as a grieving father fighting his way through a bureaucratic quagmire in search of the truth, and by the young men and women who are facing insurmountable odds of emerging physically and/or emotionally unscathed from an increasingly controversial conflict.
Jones' Hank Deerfield is a former military MP who receives a call that his son, Mike Jonathan Tucker, in flashbacks) has gone AWOL after returning from active duty in Iraq. When the elder Deerfield shows up in Albuquerque, N.M., to conduct his own personal investigation, it's subsequently discovered that his son has been a victim of foul play.
In his efforts to find out what really happened, Hank initially butts heads with Emily Sanders (a no-nonsense Charlize Theron), a recently promoted police detective who is fighting a couple of battles of her own -- against the close-knit military brass, and for respect from her colleagues, who make unsubtle intimations about her relationship with her boss (Josh Brolin).
As Hank stubbornly soldiers on, Emily eventually lends her support. As the two begin to piece together the events that led up to Mike's disappearance, Hank is also forced to take stock of his own belief system.
In part an adaptation of a Playboy magazine article by Mark Boal called Death and Dishonor, the Haggis version is an eloquently written portrait of a man clinging to logic during a time of confusion and turmoil.
With equal amounts bravado, anguish and, ultimately, remorse filling the crevices of his world-weary visage, Jones never has been better; Theron also effectively portrays the multifaceted dimensions of a single mother and small-town detective whose tough exterior conceals a considerable amount of vulnerable self-doubt.
Making the most of the few scenes she has, Susan Sarandon is affecting as Jones' dutiful wife, while Frances Fisher does likewise as a bartender who provides Jones with some valuable leads.
Production values are equally accomplished, from cinematographer Roger Deakins' stirring visual compositions to production designer Laurence Bennett's tarnished Americana to Mark Isham's achingly poignant, string-laden score.
IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH
Warner Independent Pictures
Warner Independent Pictures presents in association with Nala Films, Summit Entertainment and Samuels Media, a Blackfriar's Bridge production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Paul Haggis
Producers: Paul Haggis, Laurence Becsey, Patrick Wachsberger, Steven Samuels, Darlene Caamano Loquet
Executive producers: Emilio Diez Barroso, Bob Hayward, David Garrett, Erik Feig, James Holt, Stan Wlodkowski
Director of photography: Roger Deakins
Production designer: Laurence Bennett
Music: Mark Isham
Costume designer: Lisa Jensen
Editor: Jo Francis
Cast:
Hank Deerfield: Tommy Lee Jones
Det. Emily Sanders: Charlize Theron
Joan Deerfield: Susan Sarandon
Sgt. Carnelli: James Franco
Mike Deerfield: Jonathan Tucker
Evie: Frances Fisher
Lt. Kirklander: Jason Patric
Chief Buchwald: Josh Brolin
Cpl. Penning: Wes Chatham
Running time -- 120 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Ostensibly a murder-mystery set against the backdrop of the war in Iraq, In the Valley of Elah is a deeply reflective, quietly powerful work that is as timely as it is moving.
Further graced by an exceptional Tommy Lee Jones lead performance that would have to be considered one of the finest in the 60-year-old actor's career, the Warner Independent release is getting a little preliminary festival exposure at Venice and Toronto before opening in limited engagements on Sept. 14.
Strong word-of-mouth should ensure that the film plays well into awards season.
For those not up on their Old Testament, In the Valley of Elah refers to the place where David slew Goliath. It's an apt metaphor for the battle undertaken by Jones, as a grieving father fighting his way through a bureaucratic quagmire in search of the truth, and by the young men and women who are facing insurmountable odds of emerging physically and/or emotionally unscathed from an increasingly controversial conflict.
Jones' Hank Deerfield is a former military MP who receives a call that his son, Mike Jonathan Tucker, in flashbacks) has gone AWOL after returning from active duty in Iraq. When the elder Deerfield shows up in Albuquerque, N.M., to conduct his own personal investigation, it's subsequently discovered that his son has been a victim of foul play.
In his efforts to find out what really happened, Hank initially butts heads with Emily Sanders (a no-nonsense Charlize Theron), a recently promoted police detective who is fighting a couple of battles of her own -- against the close-knit military brass, and for respect from her colleagues, who make unsubtle intimations about her relationship with her boss (Josh Brolin).
As Hank stubbornly soldiers on, Emily eventually lends her support. As the two begin to piece together the events that led up to Mike's disappearance, Hank is also forced to take stock of his own belief system.
In part an adaptation of a Playboy magazine article by Mark Boal called Death and Dishonor, the Haggis version is an eloquently written portrait of a man clinging to logic during a time of confusion and turmoil.
With equal amounts bravado, anguish and, ultimately, remorse filling the crevices of his world-weary visage, Jones never has been better; Theron also effectively portrays the multifaceted dimensions of a single mother and small-town detective whose tough exterior conceals a considerable amount of vulnerable self-doubt.
Making the most of the few scenes she has, Susan Sarandon is affecting as Jones' dutiful wife, while Frances Fisher does likewise as a bartender who provides Jones with some valuable leads.
Production values are equally accomplished, from cinematographer Roger Deakins' stirring visual compositions to production designer Laurence Bennett's tarnished Americana to Mark Isham's achingly poignant, string-laden score.
IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH
Warner Independent Pictures
Warner Independent Pictures presents in association with Nala Films, Summit Entertainment and Samuels Media, a Blackfriar's Bridge production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Paul Haggis
Producers: Paul Haggis, Laurence Becsey, Patrick Wachsberger, Steven Samuels, Darlene Caamano Loquet
Executive producers: Emilio Diez Barroso, Bob Hayward, David Garrett, Erik Feig, James Holt, Stan Wlodkowski
Director of photography: Roger Deakins
Production designer: Laurence Bennett
Music: Mark Isham
Costume designer: Lisa Jensen
Editor: Jo Francis
Cast:
Hank Deerfield: Tommy Lee Jones
Det. Emily Sanders: Charlize Theron
Joan Deerfield: Susan Sarandon
Sgt. Carnelli: James Franco
Mike Deerfield: Jonathan Tucker
Evie: Frances Fisher
Lt. Kirklander: Jason Patric
Chief Buchwald: Josh Brolin
Cpl. Penning: Wes Chatham
Running time -- 120 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 8/31/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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