First Post = Burn After Reading

Burn After Reading is definitely an interesting step for the Cohen Brothers after their success with No Country for Old Men. Al though they have done comedies, this was definitely an unusual story that was far more than the advertising would lead to you to expect.
Overall, I feel that George Clooney’s performance was the best of all. Most of this came not in his words or movements, but in the choice facial expressions that displayed a priceless reaction to each of the turn-of-events in the movie. The worse acting in the movie was John Malkovich who played the same larger-than-life, bitter, angry man that he always plays. Now, his character definitely was very bitter and angry but the shouting bouts seemed a little much. Perhaps they thought it was necessary to in order to motivate his later actions, I did not. It does not seem I could write a review of the acting in this film without mentioning Brad Pitt. He was great, obviously. I think what worked best in his performance were the pauses that he took in his sentences and the words he chose to emphasize or hold out because they way he talked spoke miles of his character.
One thing I did have an issue with in this story was the score. It was an interestingly upbeat score and definitely created a feeling from the very beginning of the story. Without it, the film might have been mistaken for a drama early on. However, the music set the comedic tones of this dark comedy that continued throughout the film.
The performances in this film and the ever-turning story lines definitely made this film spectacular. The choice of shots also added a comedic tone, especially the opening shot which seemed to drop us from the sky onto the exact location of the first scene. Also, choosing to bookend the story with two scenes in the same location created an interesting perspective of telling the story from the CIA’s perspective. The only shot choice that I truly felt was lacking was regarding displaying the relationship between two particular characters. One of the side characters has a crush on Frances McDormand’s character so they tried to display this by lingering shots whenever the character watched her. This would have been subtle if done only once or twice. However, when it is repeated at least five times throughout the film, it is no longer subtle but annoying.
The only other comment I would make on the film, (that I truly would recommend to anyone by the way…) is regarding a gift that George Clooney’s character makes for his wife. The gift is very odd and, though it does provide a level of humor, seems completely out of character for him and thus jarring to the viewer – not because of its explicit sexual content but because it is completely out of place.