The American

[Use of the Romance Genre, and a musical nod to the past.]

Everyone wants to live in a Morricone film. George Clooney is no exception.  As soon as his Fiat hits the winding mountain roads in Abruzzo, a soprano sings over a bed of violins bringing us to the ‘Once Upon a Time’ land of Ennio Morricone.  As always with the maestro, the music leads us straight into a landscape of heartbreak.  Who cares if at this point, it’s imitation Morricone?  Herbert Gronemeyer’s score with strings, and soprano knows what it is doing.  Creating a Romance. Action-Thriller be damned.

But after setting us up for heartbreak, the genre makes us forget it.  So, the minor characters arrive bearing humor. We are introduced to a small mountainous town where Eros is alive, ironically, through the village priest--- and his son, the garage owner.  Their philosophies pepper the proceedings to remind us the ways of the heart are never predictable. Clooney’s protagonist, will spend the movie in denial—not of the flesh, but of Eros and the power it wields when one fully submits. This is the journey of the film: the protagonist must learn the lessons of the lover, and of course, the clock is ticking.  His hair is graying. With time running out, the object of desire gains depth and appreciation and is therefore, more desired.  These two people must be together, this genre tells us, ahhh, but only when it is impossible, the Romance promises.  Only then.  Clooney seems especially suited to this genre’s overriding tenet: love will never be achieved.  But before the impossibility is ‘just out of reach', we come to understand a man who could be the perfect lover; a man who tips large and whose hands craft a specially ordered rifle with fingertip control.  With hands like that, we know he’s good in bed. Tick. tock.

Before the heartbreak, there’s a bit of a romp, again courtesy of Morricone. When Clooney visits the Italian café,  ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ plays on the television above the tables.  The last image we see of that Morricone-themed movie, is of Henry Fonda smiling--- a moment when the bad guy is winning.  A hint to everyone that the bad is not something that can be overcome, but the journey is all.  Something Ennio Morricone knew with every note. [ See ‘Se Telefonando’.]