cskjott

If you enjoy gangster movies, this is a must see, it's top notch! It's the hard and gut wrenching rendering of the hollow, treacherous life and risks you take being a proper gangster, and I've had the dubious privilege of meeting some in my time. The best gangster is the one with the biggest balls, there is no aber dabei. The message of the movie is clear as a bell; menace is the order of the day, by surprise or default. There is no glory, there is no deeper meaning, simple pleasures have no meaning and it's dog eat dog. Ugly life at best and it's really portrayed expertly by the players, shallow and unreliable, but reliably unpredictable, terrifying and perfectly psychotic bar a couple who are a bit 'smarter' than the rest and hold actual dreams for better things. The gallery is typical and every type is in place and proper form. The subtleties are really minute but they are absolutely included, look away and you'll miss it as a whole! I will watch this many more times. You might have a tough time digging it out, but well worth the effort. Now if you'll excuse me I'll go watch some other favourites!

And to those reviewers who were mystified or felt let down by the plot or the characters, may I suggest they watch the more mainstream movies and actors, because the fabulous subtleties of 'Truands' were apparently lost on them. They've never met real gangsters! Even the loot is realistic, just enough 'pennies' to make a new life!

Phoenix is an immense power and certainly so is Brolin, as for the rest, they're chewed off as fillers at random, nothing but stepping stones for the two main acts, who are really just putting it way out there, literally.

Sometimes there is no point and this movie is such, without scope, pointless and therefore quite unfunny. Just keeping up with the elaborate and silly names in this movie is trying and there's not a scene without one.. Who is what, who? Who again??

Regrettably this is nothing but an attempt at being interesting and I admit the bar was set high, but to sum it up, I think the title is misleading; it would have been better with 'Incoherent Crap' to the sounds of music, and I find myself submitting this review to write just that, because it's what I got from it, I just kept nodding off, and if that is good enough for you, then this movie is a blast in terms of watching the very best of the bunch today in flashes making a lot out of basically nothing but complete nonsense?!

I still haven't made up my mind about where the faults are in this movie, it could well be the editing or simply the script, because the acting was impeccable and so were the settings, albeit many of the vehicles were from a different period (but that would be nitpicking)

A strange and wobbly vehicle for two established stars, the rest of the stellar cast along with Owen Wilson, Martin Short, well they just came up short with nothing but bit parts in an incoherent and silly story without head or tail and the ending is nothing but painful.

And for those of you, like I, thinking that this would possibly match 'The Big Lebowski' you've been intentionally misled and you will be most disappointed! I was full of expectations going in, but I quickly found myself just nodding off...

I had three giggles.. But in between I had a good snore, so the wife tells me!

I may watch it again, just to make sure I wasn't wrong, but I don't think I will. Rarely do I watch a movie again which didn't really catch my interest the first time. And I rarely doze off, unless...

Philip Seymour Hoffman really shines with one last but not least great character performance, nothing else to say about that. He perfectly embodies (pun intended) his shabby but stout German character and he was perfect for the part. I well knew he was gone when I went to see the movie this morning and perhaps why I paid more attention to his acting, but by no means were any of the others bit players in what is ultimately a thinking man's (women not excluded) movie. It's like a 20.000 piece puzzle if you like. If your attention span is less than 1.5 hrs. you will not enjoy this film at all, because it all leads, in most intricate ways, to one climactic moment 5 mins. before it ends. The story, which is but one anecdote out of gad zillions, still conveys several messages revealing the trouble with our world today in very subtile ways, if you can grasp the totality. You will recognise them all if you have any life experience. This was by far the best interpretation of a John Le Carré story turned screenplay I have yet seen, and I can go very far back, to BBC productions with Sir Alec Guinness as George Smiley, so to me this was not new on my menu nor as a film or book. Willem Dafoe was a great face revisited although subdued to minor role, but nonetheless performed extremely well by all in the leads. So, in conclusion, an outstanding cast, extraordinary handling of material, and just remember this; the bigger fish always eats the smaller fish because they are tastier!

My only regret: I won't see Hoffman in more movies, he was great!