A Muslim extremist murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh before he had a chance to realize his ambition to remake some of his features in English. But now Steve Buscemi pays homage to the fallen artist while simultaneously picking up where the late director left off with this smart, stylish remake of Van Gogh's 2003 drama Interview. After the disappointment of Buscemi's feature Lonesome Jim two years ago, this drama marks a welcome return to form for the auteur behind Trees Lounge and the underrated Animal Factory. Buscemi, who adapted the screenplay with David Schechter, plays a journalist with the unlikely name of Pierre Peters who is sent to interview Katya (Sienna Miller), a rising starlet in a string of horror movies and a nighttime soap. A former war correspondent who has lately turned to politics, Pierre is a serious journalist who regards this puff-piece assignment as a punishment. Katya does not help matters when she forgets about their appointment and leaves him to cool his heels in an upscale Manhattan restaurant for an hour. But she has a point when she calls him on his unprofessional attitude as he uses their time together to make it abundantly clear to the actress that she is so far beneath his contempt that he did not even bother to prep for the interview.
Frankly, the film could end right there and emerge as a satisfying short satirizing the contentious relationship between the media and celebrity, with the contempt so heavy on both sides of the divide that it is practically a living entity. But the story continues after the interview ends when an accident lands Pierre in Katya's care in her expansive (and expensive) loft. What at first glance seems like an act of kindness and a simple acknowledgement of shared humanity when she sees blood pouring from a gash in his head evolves into something quite different. As the night wears on and they drink, do drugs, argue, flirt, and try to pry out each other's secrets, a battle of wits emerges, and Pierre's assumptions about the woman he regards as an empty-headed blonde bimbo prove illusory. Well, maybe not all of them—she is far smarter than he gives her credit for, and a way better actress—but her self-regard and self-absorption are breathtaking to behold.
The screenplay is witty, and Buscemi and Miller are both excellent—she goes a long way toward atoning for her shrill performance in Factory Girl. But with only the two characters on screen most of the time—and in mostly one location—this could be one dull drama. Only it never is. Buscemi borrows a trick from Van Gogh, using three cameras to capture the action, and that lends the proceedings a kinetic vigor that might otherwise be lacking in a more conventionally shot film. Simply put, Interview never feels claustrophobic or staged, but instead unfolds with the chaotic energy of life. It is a smart film in its humor, its subject, and its execution. Van Gogh could not have done better himself, and that is perhaps the best possible homage to this fallen artist.
