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People I Know [2004]
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Tragic character study
Review date: 2008-10-19 Rating: 8 out of 10
Pacino is of course brilliant, portraying a fraying publicist trying to make some meaning in his life. Tea Leoni, Kim Basinger, Ryan O'Neal and Richard Schiff are among the strong supporting cast.
Our protagonist is sent by one of his dwindling star clients to 'clean up' his mess by getting the star's latest girl on a plane. Beaten down by work, age and drugs, Eli instead finds himself in possession of incriminating material and tangled up in city politics; but all he wants to do is make his benefit event a success and then retreat to a peaceful retirement with his sister-in-law's friendship. For all his media savvy, he's caught in the grip of forces he can barely perceive, much less escape: his self-knowledge comes too late.
It's a melancholy character piece covering 24 hours and amply fulfils its focussed ambitions. There aren't any gunfights or car chases, but it's one of Pacino's most haunting performances.
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Reviews
Pacino Versatility
Review date: 2007-11-24 Rating: 10 out of 10
A 'way out' film that guides you through the impossible jungle of public relations and the publicity agent. The brilliance of the film is the apparent trite yet sharp and angular content..The agony of trying to differentiate truth from lies and fantasy is conveyed by the superb script and excellent camera work. ..Al Pacino in a unique role plays his part of the broken and disillusioned publicity agent to perfection. Attempting to expose the layers of truth and lies that make up our everyday lives makes for a riveting and thought provoking film. The concept was a risky gamble that paid off. It will become a cult film.
David Turner (London UK)
Aging American actors lack the grace of their British counterparts
Review date: 2007-11-07 Rating: 8 out of 10
This film is about a period that has come to an end, a complete end, before the earthquake, mudslide and volcanic eruption known as the Twin Tower Terrorist Attack or 9/11 for short. New York politics, and beyond American politics seen through the eyes of a mediocre, Jewish PR agent who is losing his main customer and who is still giving time to Afro-American causes not understanding that they don't want and they don't need white Jewish good-doing benevolent liberals to take care of them. They have come of age and start understanding they have to take care of themselves. On the other side, the supposedly liberal white politicians have become so corrupted that they cannot stand upright any more and they just want to lie low and disappear from the public eye before it's too late. A new generation has not come out of the wings yet and they are more or less obliged to last a little longer. The subject of the film is that trite and that superficial if not superfluous, and the final murder does not add anything to this rather thin plot. Yet the film is a rather good film because Al Pacino is acting his part so well that he really looks the part of the poor absolutely conscious old man who is doing one more gig before going out for ever to some solitary and telephone-deprived barn on a Virginia farm. Is he overacting as some think? I don't think so. In fact he is surrounded by actors who are second zone as compared to him, so that what is good acting looks like overacting against that background. The real question is then why did Al Pacino accept to act in a film with no one next to him that could compete with his long experience and his phenomenal professional profile? No one can answer this question, except Al Pacino himself. But that is often what happens with aging actors. They are only proposed films that are made for them individually so that they end up shining bright in a dark alley and blinding us at the same time instead of making other actors sparkle and glow.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines
movies that blow
Review date: 2006-02-10 Rating: 4 out of 10
hmmm.Not sure about this one.Al pacino's performance as usual is excellent but the script is lacking in depth and clarity.As a big al pacino fan i was expecting alot more.If you are like me and wanted to see pacino in latest film...skip this one unless u like falling asleep during films
The Night He Saw too Much
Review date: 2006-02-05 Rating: 6 out of 10
"I like that about the movie," Pacino said, "There was an earlier draft in which the crime stuff was more in the foreground, but no, this isn't a crime movie, it's about Eli's personality. He has a key line: 'I just can't stop.' This is what he does. He knows people. He fixes things. He's got his causes. Maybe he's gay, but he's never explored that possibility. He just keeps moving."
Eli Wurman is an exhausted New York press agent, taking too many drugs. He is a man torn between compromise and idealism. It is a carefully-tuned performance, in which Eli descends into a long night of drugs and is finally so tired and confused he doesn't know if he has witnessed a murder, or not. Al Pacino plays Eli Wurman, and it a performance that is not over the top but not far from it. His one client, Ryan O'Neal, is caught in a big mess and it concerns a junked up minor actress, Jilli Hopper, played by Tea Leoni. He is not sure what he has seen after he escorts Jilli home- was it murder or was it not? His sister-in-law, Kim Basinger, is his one true defender and the one person who may love him. What a mess he is in. It seems everyone is after him. The dangerous client, the movie star, wants to pay Eli off ,and join a political party and he wants Elliott Sharansky, Richard Schiff to help him win a political seat. Eli needs to take charge of himself, can he do it? Can he get himself together to save things?
As one of the plots was critical about the mayor of New York, this film sat on the shelves for two years following the terrorist attacks on the USA of 9/11. We all remember that Mayor Giuliani was a hero. The film came out in late 2002. It has not made a splash. The film is disjointed at times. It is difficult to know where the film is heading. I couldn't quite like Pacino's character. I felt sorry for him, but it is not enough to carry to the film. Recommended. prisrob Feb. 06.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Ryan O'Neal
Al Pacino
Téa Leoni
Richard Schiff
Kim Basinger
Creators:
Al Pacino (Primary Contributor)
Téa Leoni (Primary Contributor)
Karen Tenkhoff (Producer)
Kirk D'Amico (Producer)
Leslie Urdang (Producer)
Michael Nozik (Producer)
Nellie Nugiel (Producer)
Philip von Alvensleben (Producer)
Jon Robin Baitz (Writer)
Director(s):
Recording label: Momentum Pictures
Manufacturer: Momentum Pictures
EAN: 5060049140230
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2004-05-31
Number of discs: 1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 95 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2003-07-23
Language: English (Original Language)