Interview - 6

Steve Buscemi stars and directs this remake of Theo van Gogh's (who was killed in 2004 by Islamic extremists) Dutch 2003 film of the same name. Pierre is a political newspaper journalist. Having fallen out of favor with his editor, he is assigned to interview soap opera and B-movie actress, Katya (Sienna Miller). Initially neither of them wants to be there, but eventually they start to relate and ask each other deep questions about each other. They start to reveal their vulnerabilities as people with complex lives that go deeper than their work and identities that people have given them. But as the conversation gets more personal it gets more complicated to tell whether they are being authentic, or merely playing the roles as they are use to. It is a rather minimalist film, relying exclusively on the conversation and engaging the audience on big questions about life, relationships, etc. similar to My Diner with Andre, The Big Kahuna, and Conversations with Other Women. The questions in all of these films are important, but the conclusion of Interview seems to suggests a more cynical, yet maybe more realistic, view of the potential of connecting to strangers and the power of conversations.