#fave part is when he punches a guy then does his little dancey dance

[philhoffman]

The penultimate Monday Philm, A Most Wanted Man (2014), dir. Anton Corbijn

This is a really beautifully-shot film, which isn’t a surprise considering how much I love Anton Corbijn’s photography and other work. The use of color — from gray Hamburg days to bright neon lights to the warmth of Bachmann’s apartment — makes it so enjoyable just to look at, it was hard picking just ten frames for this post. The close-ups are gorgeous and the city is shot in such a way that it's a worthy backdrop if not a character itself.

Spy thrillers aren’t usually my thing, probably because I have a wandering attention span and the second you lose focus you lose the plot. But with enough motivation and a well-paced narrative coming in just under two hours, I think I got this one. The cast was outstanding — Willem Dafoe, Rachel McAdams, Grigoriy Dobrygin’s Western debut, Robin Wright, Nina Hoss, Mehdi Dehbi, even baby Daniel Brühl and Vicky Krieps (Alma!). The scenes between PSH and Dafoe were among my favorites, I felt grateful we get to see these two monumental actors working together. Genuinely nerve-racking, nail-biting conclusion with unbearable tension. Hardly allows you to catch your breath before kicking the air right back out of you. Those damn Americans, poor Bachmann.

Günther Bachmann, one of Phil’s somewhat rare non-American characters. Even though he frequently doubted his accent skills on any film, I thought he sounded pretty good, subtle and even (though I defer to my German friends!). This is a neat role because PSH really disappears into the character here. I almost wasn’t expecting that based on the stills I’d seen before, because he looks a lot like Phil!, but the voice, the movement, the eyes — again I think of that Mike Nichols quote about PSH’s ability to reconstitute himself from within, you look in his eyes and see something... different. Bachmann’s got a weariness to him, but he hasn’t let go just yet. Even after that final shot, I don’t know, maybe he’s still got something left in him.

I really appreciated that scene of Bachmann in his apartment. Corbijn mentions in the behind-the-scenes photo book that he felt it was important to show Günther at home, off duty, alone. 

I recently heard a comment (criticism?) that PSH’s later roles are all the same, which I disagreed with immediately and even more so after seeing A Most Wanted Man. It feels like this was a new kind of performance from him. He’s always had a special energy, command of the room when he wants it, his magnetic pull on the camera, but Phil brings a stillness to Bachmann, a quiet gravitas that he was acquiring with age and work. More solid, sophisticated.

Just the other week I was thinking about how Phil was so excited to work with older actors, like Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken, how they motivated and mentored him. He himself was a titan from a relatively young age and already idolized by younger actors but I think he was reaching a new level, it’s clear to see in Wanted Man. And how sad that he didn’t get to enjoy that position, to mentor and inspire other artists, one of his favorite things in the world, for the next ten, twenty, forty years. How devastating.

“And all that damage we leave behind. All those lives. All those empty rooms. What would they have been for? You ever ask yourself that question?”

He’s really beautiful and leaves me awestruck in a new way every time.