I wasn't really expecting much from this indie drama, but it proved to be better than I anticipated with enough intrigue and suspense to maintain my interest throughout. The three first-rate actors here Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, and Oscar Isaac are all excellent in their roles.
The film opens in Athens, Greece, in 1962, as Mortensen, portraying Chester, and Dunst, playing Colette, appear initially like any American tourist couple visiting the Greek ruins, like the Acropolis and the Parthenon.
However, when a private detective shows up at their hotel room that night, we quickly learn that Chester has bilked many investors out of their money in the States, and is now on the lam, and traveling through Europe to try and avoid arrest. When the private detective pulls a gun and demands the money his clients have lost, a struggle ensues, and the detective falls, striking his head, and dies.
Chester enlists the help of Rydal (Isaac), a tour guide who Chester and Colette met earlier in the day, as Chester convinces Rydal the detective has just passed out from being drunk. Rydal then gets a friend to create fake passports and new identities for the couple, and takes them to the island of Crete, to await the documents.
Once the media begins to disclose the death of the private detective and eventually name Chester and Colette as the prime suspects, the three of them will all have their fates intertwined. As the police close in, it will all spiral down into a dramatic and deadly finale.
I thought the movie was well written and directed by Hossein Amini, who has written a number of screenplays, such as "The Wings of the Dove", and "Drive", but makes his directorial debut here. The film is based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith.
All in all, despite some far fetched plot elements, this character driven movie kept me engaged and interested, and I would say it's worth a watch.
The film opens in Athens, Greece, in 1962, as Mortensen, portraying Chester, and Dunst, playing Colette, appear initially like any American tourist couple visiting the Greek ruins, like the Acropolis and the Parthenon.
However, when a private detective shows up at their hotel room that night, we quickly learn that Chester has bilked many investors out of their money in the States, and is now on the lam, and traveling through Europe to try and avoid arrest. When the private detective pulls a gun and demands the money his clients have lost, a struggle ensues, and the detective falls, striking his head, and dies.
Chester enlists the help of Rydal (Isaac), a tour guide who Chester and Colette met earlier in the day, as Chester convinces Rydal the detective has just passed out from being drunk. Rydal then gets a friend to create fake passports and new identities for the couple, and takes them to the island of Crete, to await the documents.
Once the media begins to disclose the death of the private detective and eventually name Chester and Colette as the prime suspects, the three of them will all have their fates intertwined. As the police close in, it will all spiral down into a dramatic and deadly finale.
I thought the movie was well written and directed by Hossein Amini, who has written a number of screenplays, such as "The Wings of the Dove", and "Drive", but makes his directorial debut here. The film is based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith.
All in all, despite some far fetched plot elements, this character driven movie kept me engaged and interested, and I would say it's worth a watch.