CINEMA: Interview

The problem with producing two-handers for the big screen is that often they need the intimate feel of a live theatre, that idea of the audience being able to reach out and touch the actors, to give them immediacy and veracity. The very act of watching the film at one remove becomes almost like having a transparent barrier between the performers and their audience and that is exactly what happens here.When jaded war reporter Pierre Peders (Steve Buscemi) is asked to interview Katya (Sienna Miller), a famous soap star, he feels insulted by the commission and on first meeting the woman he gains the impression she is an airhead with nothing to say. However, during the course of the evening he spends with her – first at a restaurant and then in her flat – he changes his mind. He thinks he’s getting an in-depth interview with this beautiful woman, but is he really? Is he manipulating Katya into giving her secrets away or is she pulling a power play on him for her own entertainment?

As the cat and mouse continues you may find yourself losing interest as the dialogue becomes too cute for its own good and a certain self-conscience atmosphere descends. Miller exhibits a certain scuzziness while playing the coquette, but it somehow never rings true, while you’d expect experienced journalist Pierre to be more perceptive and on the ball. Ultimately, this is a play, not a film and without that intense relationship between a theatre audience and its two stars it doesn’t really work.     Dee Pilgrim