One disenchanted evening

>>Interview is a coal-black comedy about
a twisted rendez-vous

by MATTHEW HAYS

On the big screen, I reckon the two-hander is one of the most difficult things to pull off. The idea of watching two people interact for close to two hours may work on stage, but on screen? Most audiences are now so accustomed to a car crash or bomb going off every few seconds, the uphill battle with a movie like Interview gets steeper every minute.

Thus Steve Buscemi, who stars and directs Interview, deserves instant kudos for taking on such a tricky task. Here, he plays a sleazoid political journalist who has a massive falling out with his editor. Said editor decides to get back at him by assigning a story he knows Buscemi will despise: go and profile the latest, hottest starlet, a blonde bimbo of questionable talent (Sienna Miller) who has appeared in a soap opera and a slasher-horror franchise. They meet at a lounge-resto, with Buscemi still fuming about her being an hour late.

Things get worse from there. Buscemi concedes he hasn’t really seen any of her movies, doesn’t watch her show and isn’t really into doing the profile of Miller at all. After a few minutes of pleasantries that turn nasty, Miller simply gets up and leaves. But the two meet by happenstance on the street, and the Interview continues in Miller’s funky loft (the kind of place that only exists in movies, the spot anyone would kill for). This is where the movie really gets strange. The two play a game of mental cat and mouse, drinking scotch and wine and letting their real selves hang out.

Interview is actually based on a Dutch film made by Theo Van Gogh, the controversial filmmaker who was assassinated on an Amsterdam street by an Islamic fundamentalist. But Buscemi, who adapted the screenplay, has done a brilliant job of making it his own. Here, two strangers who are involved in professions that involve both secrecy and facade, attempt to fool the other into trusting them.

It’s a seriously clever and taut thriller, though I seriously recommend against making it a first-date movie.

Interview opens Friday, July 20

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