Day Eighteen: Interview

I actually watched Interview (another Steve Buscemi movie, this one also directed by him) yesterday, but didn't have time until now to write it up; my last night was occupied by a Death Cab for Cutie concert. It's a kind of "opposites attract" story, a character study of two people--a political reporter and a tabloid-fodder starlet--who seem to hate each other immediately but then find common ground...or do they?

I really like movies that are all about the dialogue and characters, and I figured this would be an interesting story of first impressions being proved wrong. Yesterday may just have been a day for not wanting to judge books by their covers: I was one of apparently millions moved by the viral video of Susan Boyle, a humble 47-year-old Scottish woman, wowing the judges on Britain's Got Talent with her stunningly great voice. It seems everyone on the Internet is talking about her, and many of the voices are criticizing our image-obsessed culture that assumes that an older woman with no attention to beauty or fashion will be a terrible singer and act foolish. Of course we're all taught from early on that appearances can be deceiving and you shouldn't judge people by how they look, but of course everyone does.

I'm not sure that was the message of this movie, though. As the characters' tongues are loosened by drugs and alcohol and increasing time spent together, as they fight and kiss and chase each other around Sienna Miller's character's apartment, they begin to reveal things about themselves and to find in each other what they're missing. Clearly it's a pseudo-father-daughter relationship; even the characters recognize that. And then it's almost as if the rug is pulled out from under us, although the final twist is somewhat predictable, and the touching, interesting honesty of the entire movie is undermined by the revelation that maybe she was lying, playing him, all along. It's sort of clever because she's revealed to be much sharper than he expects from her even after their long night together, but it gives the movie a strange aftertaste. I was almost left wondering what I had just seen, if any of it meant anything. I enjoyed the movie for the most part, but it all felt a little artificial.