The Terminal (2004)
Country: US
Technical: col 128m
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, Diego Luna
Synopsis:
A citizen of the former Soviet bloc on a visit to New York becomes an undesirable when his country descends into civil war, and the authorities at JFK consign him to the International Transit Lounge in the hope that he will disappear and become someone else's problem. He, however, aware of the brevity of his mission, encapsulated in a tin of Planters peanuts, determines to remain, and wait.
Review:
Spielberg had a replica of the terminal building constructed in the studio, and this is the domain gradually dominated by his 'idiot savant' character, Viktor Navorski, in competition with the inexplicably hostile immigration chief (Tucci). What we have here is the spirit of Frank Capra reborn for the supposedly cynical 2000s, with Hanks winning over the inhabitants through his embodiment of the American ideals of purity, integrity and steadfastness. There is even a makeshift candlelit dinner straight out of It's a Wonderful Life, though in the end Zeta-Jones's attractive flight attendant does bend to the demands of realism. The fact that it doesn't all quite work has something to do with the studied artifice driving the narrative gears, though the interplay of character yields many incidental pleasures despite the director's transparent manipulation of their strings, along with those of his multi-million dollar train, or airplane, set.
Country: US
Technical: col 128m
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, Diego Luna
Synopsis:
A citizen of the former Soviet bloc on a visit to New York becomes an undesirable when his country descends into civil war, and the authorities at JFK consign him to the International Transit Lounge in the hope that he will disappear and become someone else's problem. He, however, aware of the brevity of his mission, encapsulated in a tin of Planters peanuts, determines to remain, and wait.
Review:
Spielberg had a replica of the terminal building constructed in the studio, and this is the domain gradually dominated by his 'idiot savant' character, Viktor Navorski, in competition with the inexplicably hostile immigration chief (Tucci). What we have here is the spirit of Frank Capra reborn for the supposedly cynical 2000s, with Hanks winning over the inhabitants through his embodiment of the American ideals of purity, integrity and steadfastness. There is even a makeshift candlelit dinner straight out of It's a Wonderful Life, though in the end Zeta-Jones's attractive flight attendant does bend to the demands of realism. The fact that it doesn't all quite work has something to do with the studied artifice driving the narrative gears, though the interplay of character yields many incidental pleasures despite the director's transparent manipulation of their strings, along with those of his multi-million dollar train, or airplane, set.
Country: US
Technical: col 128m
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, Diego Luna
Synopsis:
A citizen of the former Soviet bloc on a visit to New York becomes an undesirable when his country descends into civil war, and the authorities at JFK consign him to the International Transit Lounge in the hope that he will disappear and become someone else's problem. He, however, aware of the brevity of his mission, encapsulated in a tin of Planters peanuts, determines to remain, and wait.
Review:
Spielberg had a replica of the terminal building constructed in the studio, and this is the domain gradually dominated by his 'idiot savant' character, Viktor Navorski, in competition with the inexplicably hostile immigration chief (Tucci). What we have here is the spirit of Frank Capra reborn for the supposedly cynical 2000s, with Hanks winning over the inhabitants through his embodiment of the American ideals of purity, integrity and steadfastness. There is even a makeshift candlelit dinner straight out of It's a Wonderful Life, though in the end Zeta-Jones's attractive flight attendant does bend to the demands of realism. The fact that it doesn't all quite work has something to do with the studied artifice driving the narrative gears, though the interplay of character yields many incidental pleasures despite the director's transparent manipulation of their strings, along with those of his multi-million dollar train, or airplane, set.