HTF DVD REVIEW: Interview

Richard Gallagher · 12-09-2007, 09:43 PM

Interview

Studio: Sony
Year: 2007
Rated: R
Program Length: 84 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen
Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, Spanish

The Program

The Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered by Islamic extremists in Amsterdam in 2004. His “crime” was making a documentary short called Submission: Part I, which described the abuse which many Muslim women are forced to endure. After the documentary aired on television in the Netherlands, van Gogh and co-screenwriter Ayaan Hirsi Ali began to receive death threats. Ali was offered police protection, which he accepted. Van Gogh declined the offer, and ten weeks later he was dead.

This background information is relevant because Steve Buscemi’s Interview is an English-language remake of Theo van Gogh’s 2003 film of the same name. Van Gogh had long expressed an interest in making films in the United States in general and in New York City in particular. Interview was one of several films which he was planning to remake. Tragically, he was killed before he had an opportunity to fulfill his dream. After a suitable period of time his producer, Gijs van de Westelaken, contacted some American filmmakers to see if he could interest any of them in remaking some of van Gogh’s films. Buscemi viewed van Gogh’s films and then agreed to do Interview.

Steve Buscemi is best-known to most filmgoers as a prodigious character actor who has shined in everything from Fargo to The Sopranos. He has also directed some highly-regarded independent films, such as Trees Lounge (1996), Animal Factory (2000), and Lonesome Jim (2005).

In his latest directorial effort, Buscemi plays Pierre Peders, a journalist who writes for “Newsworld” magazine. Once a highly-regarded war correspondent and political reporter, Pierre has fallen out of favor with his editors and has been passed over for an assignment to cover a growing political scandal in Washington, D.C. Instead, he is told to remain in New York City and interview Katya (Sienna Miller), a popular B-movie actress who appears in slasher films. Pierre’s passive-aggressive response is to utterly fail to prepare for the interview and he then stews in a restaurant while waiting for Katya, who is an hour late, to show up.

The interview, as you might expect, starts badly. Because Pierre is unprepared, he has nothing interesting to ask of Katya. She is not terribly excited to be there either, and she is rightfully offended when she realizes that Pierre has not bothered to do even a little research. They bicker and trade barbs, and Katya decides to call it a night. As Katya leaves the restaurant she is surrounded by paparazzi, so Pierre snakes around the crowd and hails a taxi. However, after Pierre gets in the cab, the driver recognizes Katya and becomes distracted. As the cab proceeds down the street, the driver exchanges words with Katya and slams into the back of a parked moving van (Buscemi pays tribute to the Dutch director by using a moving van from Van Gogh Movers, a real moving company in Brooklyn). Pierre is thrown forward and sustains a minor head injury. Katya takes pity on Pierre and takes him to her loft apartment to clean up the blood and give him an icepack.

What follows is an intriguing cat-and-mouse game which is charged with both sexual and psychological tension. In spite of their bickering at the restaurant, Pierre and Katya are somehow attracted to each other and at the same time repelled by each other. As the evening progresses, Pierre decides that he wants to complete the interview, but only if he can get beneath Katya’s surface and find out who she really is. While using her computer he comes across evidence that she is harboring a dark secret, and he tries to get her to open up about it. However, he discovers that the only way to get Katya to speak about her inner self is for him to reveal secrets of his own. As the barriers between them are lowered and raised and lowered again, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish how much of what they are saying is truly revelation and how much is sly deception.

Interview is essentially a two-actor production. There are some supporting roles in the film, but 85% of the screen time involves just Steve Buscemi and Sienna Miller. He is excellent, as always, but it is Miller’s performance which you will remember afterwards. She plays an actress who is so convincing that the viewer cannot figure out when she is revealing the true Katya and when she is putting on an act. Miller also manages to project intense sexuality without ever taking her clothes off or engaging in sexual acts more overt than kissing (there is a considerable amount of explicit language, however).

Fans of Buscemi and Miller will definitely want to see this film, which is a tour de force for both actors. Although at its core Interview is a serious drama, it also contains some very funny humor. It will keep you guessing, and at the end you may still have questions about what actually happened.

The Video

The anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen transfer is very satisfying. The images are sharp and stable. The action takes place mostly indoors and entirely at night, so the colors are somewhat muted and the lighting is appropriately subdued. Shadow detail is very important in a film of this nature, and I never felt that there was anything of importance which I could not see. Digital artifacts are not a problem.

The Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio produces intelligible dialogue and nice separation when music is playing. I was able to understand every line. Because of the nature of the film, the surround channels do not have much to do, although the opening scene in the restaurant did make me feel like I was actually in a restaurant.

The Supplements

There is an informative commentary track by Steve Buscemi. He discusses why he chose to do this film and describes how he decided to emulate Theo van Gogh’s style by shooting long takes with multiple digital cameras. He talks about one line of political humor which he considered cutting from the film, but it tested so well with audiences that he decided to leave it in (he calls himself a “whore for laughs”). On the other hand, there is also one humorous obscenity during the restaurant scene which he never even considered cutting from the film.

There are also two featurettes. One is a “behind the scenes” featurette which contains comments from Buscemi and Miller interspersed with rehearsal footage. The other is called “Triple Theo, Take One” and focuses on how Buscemi and the producers changed the original film into something which would be accessible to American audiences. For example, the Dutch version of Interview takes place entirely in Katya’s apartment. It was felt that such a scenario would be implausible in an American setting and that the characters should first meet in the neutral setting of a restaurant.

The DVD also contains a number of trailers for other Sony films.

The Packaging

This single-disc DVD comes in a standard keepcase.

The Final Analysis

I found Interview to be quite involving and fascinating. Film critics were sharply divided when it was released in theaters (one critic’s “compelling” was another critic’s “pointless”), but even those who gave it negative reviews acknowledged that the acting is superb.

Equipment used for this review:

Toshiba HD-XA2 DVD player
Sharp LC-42D62U LCD display
Yamaha HTR-5890 THX Surround Receiver
BIC Acoustech speakers
Interconnects: Monster Cable

Release Date: December 11, 2007