Sleuth (2007 film)

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Sleuth

Promotional film poster
Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Produced by Kenneth Branagh
Simon Halfon
Jude Law
Simon Moseley
Marion Pilowsky
Tom Sternberg
Ben Jackson co-producer
Written by Harold Pinter (adaptation of stage play Sleuth by Anthony Shaffer)
Starring Michael Caine
Jude Law
Music by Patrick Doyle
Cinematography Haris Zambarloukos
Editing by Neil Farrell
Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics
- USA -
Paramount Pictures
- UK, Australia, South Africa -
Mongrel Media
- Canada -
Release date(s) October 12, 2007 (limited; in the U.S.)
November 23, 2007(limited; in the UK)
Running time 86 min.
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Preceded by The Magic Flute
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Sleuth is a 2007 film directed by Kenneth Branagh based on Harold Pinter's screenplay adaptation of the Tony Award-winning play Sleuth, by Anthony Shaffer. It was produced by Jude Law, who also stars in it as Milo Tindle opposite Michael Caine as Andrew Wyke. Caine had starred as Tindle opposite Laurence Olivier's Wyke in the original 1972 film Sleuth. It was mainly marketed as a collaboration between Pinter, Branagh, Law, and Caine, four major names of the British stage and film industry. Though the new film adaptation is termed a "remake", the stars and the reviewers have emphasized that Pinter's "take" on the play differs almost entirely from the original play and film, which he had not seen prior to writing his screenplay.[1][2][3]

Contents

[edit] Cast

[edit] Synopsis

"A millionaire detective novelist matches wits with the unemployed actor who ran off with his wife in a deadly serious, seriously twisted game with dangerous consequences."[4]

[edit] History

According to most accounts, this is a remake of the 1972 film, but Pinter's screenplay offers "a fresh take" on Shaffer's play and "a very different form" from the original film.[5] In his review of the film's debut at the 2007 Venice Film Festival, Morris observes: "The reworking of the play is not just an adept transformation of theater to film ... but also casts a revealing light on social history, reflecting the enormous changes in English society, language and morals in the nearly 40 years since the play first appeared on the London stage."[6]

Caine played the role of Milo Tindle in the original film. In the 2007 film, Caine performs the role of Andrew Wyke, originated by Laurence Olivier, and Law performs Caine's original role of Milo Tindle.[7] This is the second film in which Law performs a role originated by Caine (The first was the title role in Alfie).

Pinter, the actors, and the director say this version of Sleuth is not strictly a "remake."[8] Law has called it "a completely reinvented Sleuth" ... It didn't feel like a remake. I always loved the idea at its heart of two men battling it out for a woman you never meet....'"[9] Law further felt that, "I was creating a character [Milo Tindle], I wasn't recreating one.'"[9] Caine said, "I never felt that I had gone back to Sleuth", and called the Pinter script "an entirely different thing. There isn't a single line in it that was in the other one, and Pinter had never seen the [1972] movie. Jude [Law] gave him the stage play and said, 'Write a screenplay for me' ... It was a completely different experience'".[9] In a television interview conducted on RAI TV during the Venice International Film Festival, Caine states: "If the script hadn't been by Harold Pinter, I wouldn't have done the movie".

Pinter said, "'It's a totally new take. ... I had not either seen or read the play, and I hadn't seen the film adapted from the play either, so I knew nothing about it. So I simply read the play and I think it's totally transformed. I've kept one or two plot things because you have to but apart from that, I think I've made it my own.'"[1][2]

[edit] Screenings and publicity

The film was publicised mainly on the basis that it was a collaboration between Branagh, Law, Caine and Pinter, all well-known director/actors, stars and playwright.

After premiering at the 64th Venice Film Festival on August 30, 2007,[6] Sleuth was screened at the Toronto Film Festival on September 10, 2007.[10] It was also screened at the Atlantic Film Festival, in Halifax, on September 22, 2007,[11][12] the Aspen FilmFest on September 26, 2007,[13][14] the Copenhagen International Film Festival, on September 27, 2007,[15] the Calgary International Film Festival, in Alberta, on September 28, 2007,[16] the Haifa International Film Festival on October 1, 2007.[17], and the Pantalla Pinamar Festival in Pinamar, Argentina on December 15, 2007.

On October 3 and October 4, 2007, respectively, Sleuth was screened at Variety’s 2007 Screening Series in New York, at the Chelsea West Cinemas,[18] and in Los Angeles, at the ArcLight Theatre.[19] Kenneth Branagh, Michael Caine and Jude Law made a number of interviews promoting the film on television programs The Today Show, RAI TV, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Charlie Rose Show, and Reel Talk.[20]

A two-page feature article, written by Sarah Lyall, led the "Arts & Leisure" section of the Sunday edition of The New York Times on October 7, 2007, previewing the film before its opening on Friday, October 12, 2007.[3]

[edit] Reviews

Manohla Dargis from The New York Times entitled her review, "A Dance of Two Men, Twisting and Turning With a Gun That's More Than a Gun." In contrast to Sarah Lyall's New York Times preview "Still Pinteresque", it is not a favorable review and reveals that she did not like watching the film, finding it too claustrophobic: "Mr. Branagh fiddles with the lights, tilts the camera and hustles his hard-working actors upstairs and down and back again and into an elevator as small as a coffin built for one. He embellishes the screenplay’s every obvious conceit and word, hammering the point until you feel as if you’re trapped inside the elevator with Milo and Andrew, going up and down and up and down, though nowhere in particular."

In his interview with Martin A. Grove, Branagh mentions that the danger of inducing claustrophobia in audience members is a risk that he took into account in filming Sleuth: "What Branagh didn't do that many Hollywood directors would have done is to open the film up by, for instance, having the two men drive to a nearby pub at some point in their conversation. 'Well, it's interesting you say that,' he told [Grove], 'There were discussions about that, but we said, 'If we believe in the power of the writing here and the power of the performances, but also, frankly, if we believe in the audience and believe that the audience can find this as fascinating as I do on the pages and if we can realize it to meet all of their expectations then the claustrophobia (won't be a problem).' " Time film reviewer Richard Corliss entitles his review "Murder Mystery: Who Killed Sleuth?", indicating that he is not pleased with the outcome either and concluding: "if you consider what the exalted quartet of Branagh, Pinter, Caine and Law might have done with the project, and what they did to it, Sleuth has to be the worst prestige movie of the year."

While some seem to agree with Dargis and Corliss, Claudia Puig is more appreciative: "Caine and Law are in fine form bantering cleverly in this entertaining cat-and-mouse game, thanks to the inspired dialogue of Harold Pinter. They parry, using witticisms instead of swords. Then they do a dance of deception, a veritable tango. There's thievery, peril and plenty of double-crossing. ... As directed by Kenneth Branagh, this new version is darker and more claustrophobic. In the original the house where all the action took place was Gothic and laden with gewgaws. The new domicile is stark and minimalist, and much more threatening. Branagh's version has more incipient horror and less camp." Roger Ebert finds "It's no mystery that 'Sleuth' is fascinating," observing that Pinter "has written a new country house mystery, which is not really a mystery at all in terms of its plot, and eerily impenetrable in its human relationship" and that "In 'Sleuth' what [Kenneth Branagh] celebrates is perplexing, ominous, insinuating material in the hands of two skilled actors." Carina Chocano, writing in the Los Angeles Times, states: "the verbal sparring is so sharp [that] it's a wonder nobody loses an eye. ... it's an unmitigated pleasure to observe Caine and Law attack it with such ferocity...." Jean Lowerison, writing in the San Diego Metropolitan, says: "Caine and Law are terrific together, verbally circling each other like panthers ready to pounce. And though some have complained that 'Sleuth' is all words, I say, 'Yes, isn't it wonderful?' "

Additional reviews from several publications are excerpted on the Rotten Tomatoes website.

[edit] Soundtrack

Patrick Doyle is the composer. The soundtrack is produced by Varèse Sarabande and was released in October 2007.[21]

[edit] Track listing

  1. The Visitor
  2. The Ladder
  3. You're Now You
  4. I`m Not A Hairdresser
  5. Black Arrival
  6. Milo Tindle
  7. I Was Lying
  8. Itch Twitch
  9. Rat In A Trap
  10. One Set All
  11. Cobblers
  12. Sleuth
  13. Too Much Sleuth (Dance Mixes by Patrick Doyle Jr.)

[edit] The House

"Director Branagh found shooting in the house difficult yet interesting. “The minimalism I found was a great challenge. The elevator was Harold’s idea, so that was there and was a central feature of what we are going to bring to it. And then everything else was drawn from contemporary British architecture, contemporary British artists. The wire figure is by Anthony Gormley, one of our most famous sculptors. Gary Hume did all the artwork on the walls." [22] Custom designed furniture from Ron Arad completes the look.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Emanuel Levy, "Sleuth with Pinter, Branagh, Law and Caine", interview, August 29, 2007.
  2. ^ a b Emanuel Levy, ""Sleuth 2007: Remake or Revamping of Old Play", emanuellevy.com, August 29, 2007.
  3. ^ a b Sarah Lyall,"Still Pinteresque", The New York Times, October 7, 2007, sec. 2 ("Arts & Leisure"): 1, 16; illus., accessed October 7, 2007.
  4. ^ "Synopsis", "Sleuth: A Sony Pictures Classics Release", official film site webpage, accessed October 29, 2007.
  5. ^ "Exclusive: First Look at Sleuth: Michael Caine and Jude Law Star", Empire (EMap Consumer Media) 11 May 2007, accessed 10 June 2007.
  6. ^ a b Roderick Conway Morris, "Movies: 'Sleuth' and 'Michael Clayton': Separating the Men from the Boys in Venice", The International Herald Tribune, August 31, 2007.
  7. ^ Jason Buchanan, "Sleuth" plot summary at the All Movie Guide, rpt. in The New York Times, accessed 10 June 2007.
  8. ^ Dalya Alberge, "Caine Gives Master Class in How Not to Blow Remaking a Classic", Times Online, August 29, 2007.
  9. ^ a b c "Law Says Good Night to Kids, Then Talks Sleuth at Toronto Film Fest", The Canadian Press, September 14, 2007.
  10. ^ Gala Programme Schedule Toronto Film Festival Official site.
  11. ^ Etan Vlessing, "'Sleuth' Closes Atlantic Fest", The Hollywood Reporter, September 10, 2007.
  12. ^ Sleuth Atlantic Film Festival Official site.
  13. ^ Stewart Oksenhorn, "Full House for Filmfest ...", The Aspen Times, August 8, 2007; Sleuth screening schedule on the official site of the Aspen FilmFest.
  14. ^ Sleuth, Aspen FilmFest Official site.
  15. ^ "Dobbeltspil: Sleuth", Copenhagen International Film Festival Official site.
  16. ^ Sleuth Calgary International Film Festival Official site.
  17. ^ "Sleuth", Haifa International Film Festival Official site.
  18. ^ Sleuth, Variety Screening Series 2007, New York (official website), accessed September 20, 2007.
  19. ^ Sleuth, Variety Screening Series 2007, Los Angeles (official website), accessed September 14, 2007.
  20. ^ Interview with Jude Law, "Act Three" of Show #2823, The Late Show with David Letterman, CBS, October 2, 2007, Official website, accessed October 27, 2007, (Synopsis; authorized video clips of selected parts of program on site; clip from this segment not posted there); Interview with Jude Law, RAI TV TV/TG1, posted on RAInet, accessed September 14, 2007; Interview with Jude Law and Michael Caine, "Video: Celebrity Interviews: British Invasion: Law and Caine", Today, NBC, October 3, 2007, accessed October 27, 2007, (hyperlinked video clip); Charlie Rose, "A Conversation with Actor Jude Law", The Charlie Rose Show, WNET (New York), broadcast October 19–October 20, 2007, 11:30 p.m. ET–12:26 p.m. ET, streaming video posted October 22, 2007, accessed October 27, 2007; Jeffrey Lyons, "(U)ncovering a 'Sleuth': Jeffrey Lyons Exposes the Many Layers of Jude Law", Reel Talk, NBC, broadcast November 3, 2007, accessed November 4, 2007 (Video clip of interview with Jude Law).
  21. ^ Sleuth Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, by Patrick Doyle, Varèse Sarabande Records, CD, ISBN 3020668542 (catalogue no.), released October 9, 2007, accessed December 19, 2007.
  22. ^ Michael Caine and Director Kenneth Branagh Talk About Sleuth, by Rebecca Murray, About.com, accessed March 8, 2008.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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