A Disappointing Continuation

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The movie is class - none of the usual cliché-d gimmicks. The acting is not just good, its perfect. However, its the 'plot' which stands head and shoulders above anything and everything.Seeing a 7.0 rating, I wasn't expecting much, however, the light and shadow play used by the director when the two protagonists meet in the car for the first time, and the conversation they have; hooked me straight. This slow burner turned out to be the most realistic portrayal of cold-war era politics I have ever seen in movies. I know, I said politics, not espionage; because although the subject matter is espionage, the driving force is always politics. The director has hammered home his point without us even realizing it - like an expert nurse who knows how to use a syringe for kids' vaccination. Apart from a few Reagan scenes which are mildly cartoonish, I find this movie virtually flawless. Once again, I cannot fathom how this ended up with a rating of 7.0

It says something about film marketing that the makers of this nice little film felt it necessary to give featured billing to Willem Dafoe and Diane Kruger, who might be recognizable to American film goers but are certainly not the film's stars. Kruger appears on screen briefly, while Dafoe has a minor and totally unnecessary role. The real stars are Emir Kusturica as Gregoriev, a high ranking Russian intelligence agent who is determined to expose his country's spy network in an effort to bring down the Brezhnev regime, and Guilliaume Canet as a young French businessman serving as Gregoriev's unwilling courier. Credit must also go to Alexandra Maria Lara, the French businessman's beautiful young wife who fears for her family's safety and cannot get a truthful word out of her husband. Kusturica is excellent, Canet is competent and Lara is very good. This is "based on a true story," a phrase that always leaves me wondering where fact expires and invention begins. But it is very well done. The Russian is caught and the young French couple escape by driving from Moscow to the Finnish border in a snow storm. Of some interest are the actors playing Ronald Reagan, Francois Mitterrand and Gorbachev, each of whom figures prominently in the story. They're a pretty stiff bunch.

"Keep your money."This is the story of how the Soviet Union lost the game. It is a story based - loosely - on the real story of the man who gave the French enough information to trigger the end of the Cold War.The movie is categorized as a thriller, but it is no ordinary one. It has a good story, a good script, an excellent director and a great cast. The music is moving and the cinematography is beautiful.This is a movie that makes art for art's sake and nothing more. A movie only the Europeans could make. There is no commercial pressure, there is no need to add anything to the plot, or to make the story anything more (or less) than it is. It is the story of the man who wanted to change the world, and who succeeded.The director does a terrific job. The camera walks, runs, flies high and low, in search of the perfect angle, the story moves easily from one point to the next and the attention to detail is overwhelming. There are moments when the action stops and only the camera moves. Combined with a brilliant sound track, the result is a masterpiece.The actors are perfectly selected. Emir Kusturica is the bohemian KGB officer, a role that fits his bearish physique like a glove. Guillaume Canet is the unlikely counterpart and he does a brilliant job. Both man are also accomplished film directors in their own right, and I don't think I've ever seen a movie with main characters like these. They have a special, natural and effortless connection with the camera and with each other, and the film benefits tremendously. The women are there only to make their life difficult and to show how they each deal with their "domestic" problems and weaknesses. But if their roles are small, they do an excellent job.In other roles, there is a cast of who's who of Hollywood. If they would give awards for best supporting cast, this movie would take the cake. Fred Ward is Ronald Reagan, the boss of the United States, Willen Defoe is the boss of the CIA, David Soul has a tiny role and Diane Kruger has a very recognizable cameo appearance.The music is moving, when it is meant to be moving, and simply noise, when it is meant to be nothing else.If there is one flaw that I found, is that the movie repeats itself too much. There are several great ideas and scenes, but they tend to be repeated a lot. Even the greatest idea is a masterpiece only once. The second time it is not so great and the third time it is just... boring. The movie could have been shorter and it could have left some things to the viewer's imagination.There is also the choice of language. There is French, there is Russian and there is English. While the use of all three languages adds to the authenticity of the story, the constant and relentless switching between them gets tiresome, sooner or later. And since the copy I had had no subtitles, some of the Russian dialog remained a mystery. Thank God! there were no Chinese or Japanese involved.Farewell. A great movie, even if a little self-indulgent. 8/10.

Farewell is a French film in French, English and Russian, but with English subtitles. The film is based on the book Bonjour Farewell by Serguei Kostine. The film takes place in the early 1980's and is about a Russian internal security officer named Sergei, who is fed up with the current communist government and decides to take Soviet documents and secret information to the government of France, under President Mitterrand, who himself is a socialist, but is working in coalition with the communists. Sergei hopes that by doing this he could bring about a change in the Soviet Union. Sergei realizes that he can not do it alone, so he gets the help of a French engineer named Pierre Froment, who is based out of Moscow, to help him with his mission. During the film both men will come under suspicion of family members and those around them and at times they even doubt each other, but Sergei is bound and determined to succeed with his mission. Before, I saw Farewell, I knew very little about it, but had seen and read some of the great reviews it had been receiving. It took me a little while to sort of get caught up with the characters and all the events that were going on during the film, but in the end I found myself loving the film. I am glad that I decided to go see Farewell, instead of skipping it altogether. I think the fact that it was about espionage worried me, because I really am not a fan of the usual James Bond type espionage and spy films. Farewell thankfully turned out to be something different. Instead of a lot of action, car chases and the usual high tech gimmicks and story lines that are pumped out in the American versions of these type of films (and I guess the British, seeing as they created James Bond), we are instead taken down a different route, where we are introduced to these two men and we really get to know the two of them well during the length of the film and we even start to care about them. We see them go about their daily lives with things going on at home and raising families, but these two also are passionate people and they are doing what they are doing for what they consider to be the best thing for them and their country and families. This film took a more personal approach by letting us get to know these two men and giving us good character development and sets a good pace for the film and also helps us to understand why they are doing what they are doing and the end results and choices they end up making. The dialogue between the characters is all very good here and the acting from the two leads and basically the whole cast is terrific. The film once you get to know what is going on, moves at a good pace and at times is thrilling and at other times we are in deep fascination to see what will happen in the character's personal lives as well as what will happen with the mission they are working on. As, I said we really do get to know these characters well with their heroic qualities and even their flaws and we still admire them both and get to care for them. Some of the best scenes of the film have nothing to do with the espionage mission at all, but instead seeing how they interact with their families and how they go about their daily lives. It may not be action packed, but it feels realistic and human and more believable this way. Farewell is a really captivating film with it's story which is brought to great justice by a great script, direction and performances. I also appreciated seeing a European view on the events and matters that take place during the film instead of a typical and perhaps biased American version. I could respect and see what they were trying to get across in this version of the story and I am glad they did not change anything to be more commercial, or to sell more tickets. Farewell is a terrific film and definitely one of the best of 2010.