A Film A Day: Clint Eastwood

The 15:17 to Paris (2018)

Though I didn't love J. Edgar and I definitely need to rewatch American Sniper (I rated it 9/10 in the good old days), I usually like Clint Eastwood's movies. The 15:17 Train to Paris is a different story. The trailer didn't look that appealing to me and now that I've seen the movie I know why.

The 15:17 Train to Paris follows the course of the lives of three friends, Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler, from the struggles of childhood through finding their footing in life, to the trip through Europe where they managed to stop a terrorist attack on a train from Amsterdam to Paris on August 21, 2015.

Cast

Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep, Annie Corley, Victor Slezak, Jim Haynie, Sarah Kathryn, Christopher Kroon, Phyllis Lyons, Debra Monk, Richard Lage, Michelle Benes

Storyline

Photographer Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood) stops in a farm in the middle of nowhere to ask for directions to Roseman Bridge. That's when he meets housewife Francesca Johnson (Meryl Streep). Eventually they fall in love, but she is married with children.

Opinion

"I gave my family my life; I gave Robert Kincaid what was left of me." With these words, Francesca concludes her letter. Closing credits rolling in, I felt like she gave me a part of her life too, so very well done Clint.

Romantic and sensitive, with a devastating and emotional ending, The Bridges of Madison County redeems the clichéd plot with the help of the duo Eastwood-Streep.

Once again without his beloved Magnum .44, and in the role both of actor and director, Clint Eastwood wonderfully directs this love story, based on Robert James Waller's novel of the same name - and according to what I've read around, isn't even that good. What surprised me the most is the sensitivity Eastwood faced the story with: unbelievable.

I am not a fan of romances and the running time - 2 hours and 15 minutes - really worried me. Instead, I've found myself surprised to say that it is one of the strongest part of the film. In fact, the slow pace not only never bores, but it's necessary to make you feel the story, and to allow you to live those special moments with them.

The cinematography by Jack N. Green is wonderful and the musical score by Lennie Niehaus really helps enhance the romantic atmosphere.

The pair Eastwood-Streep works perfectly. They have such a chemistry, their love seems hundred percent genuine. Beside from that, their performances really deserve to be praised. On the one hand we have a great Clint Eastwood, which greatly divides himself between acting and directing. On the other hand we have Meryl Streep, an astonishing, heartbreaking Meryl Streep, who brings home another Oscar nomination.

If this movie taught me anything is never judge a film by its genre.

Quotes

Robert Kincaid: Things change. They always do, it's one of the things of nature. Most people are afraid of change, but if you look at it as something you can always count on, then it can be a comfort.

American Sniper (2014)

Genre

Biography | Drama | War

Director

Clint Eastwood

Country

United States

Cast

Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Max Charles, Luke Grimes, Kyle Gallner, Sam Jaeger, Jake McDorman, Cory Hardrict, Navid Negahban, Eric Close, Eric Ladin, Joel Lambert, Rey Gallegos, Kevin Lacz, Brian Hallisay, Jonathan Groff, Ben Reed, Billy Miller, Elise Robertson, Keir O'Donnell, Marnette Patterson, Jason Hall, Leonard Roberts, Sammy Sheik

Plot

Growing up in Texas, Chris Kyle's father (Ben Reed) teaches him how to hunt deer and shoot a rifle. Years later, Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) is nothing more than a rodeo cowboy, when he sees news coverage of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings and enlists in the U.S. Navy, where he is eventually accepted for SEAL training, becoming a U.S. Navy SEAL sniper.

After marrying, Kyle and the other members of the team are called for their first tour of Iraq. Kyle's struggle isn't with his missions, but about his relationship with the reality of the war and, once returned at home, how he manages to handle it with his urban life, his wife and kids.