With the invaluable assistance of lenser Stefan Von Bjorn and production designer Jennifer Carroll, McGuckian makes shrewd use of the pic’s central location - the house, cluttered with books and bric-a-brac, which the professor shared with his now-deceased mother - to subtly reveal different aspects of her two lead characters. The professor, it should be noted, seems more partial to e.e. In a nice touch, the stranger (played by another actor-musician, Johnny Hallyday, in Leconte’s version) recalls being moved by the words of Charles Bukowksi, even though he doesn’t know who the poet is or what poem the words are from. Mullen provides the perfect counterpoint, playing the taciturn stranger as a hardboiled cynic who only gradually admits to his own sort of wistful longing, and seems pleasantly surprised by his willingness to be a sympathetic, even empathetic listener. In many scenes, the veteran actor is so clearly relishing his role that his pleasure is highly contagious. Indeed, only Kate O’Toole, effortlessly conveying mature sensuality as the professor’s longtime paramour, manages to briefly dispel the overall impression that the pic is basically a sturdily constructed two-hander.Īs the aged professor, a role played in Leconte’s original by Jean Rochefort, Sutherland deftly balances melancholy and self-mockery, along with a few welcome flashes of twinkly eyed bemusement. THE RAILWAY MAN MOVIE REVIEWS DRIVERThere are supporting players here and there in the margins of “Man on the Train,” but not even third-billed Graham Greene - whose role as an eccentric getaway driver is little more than a walk-on - has much to do. Meanwhile, the stranger wanders about the cluttered rooms of the professor’s spacious home, slips into a pair of his host’s comfy slippers and finds himself amazed by his sudden contentment. The professor, long resigned to a life of safe routines and avoided risks, bemoans his “uncanny ability to miss out on all the highlights of my life,” and wishes he could come across as mysterious, if not downright dangerous, as his younger, less loquacious guest. Gradually, however, each man becomes fascinated by, and maybe a tad envious of, how the other lives. That’s OK: The professor is perfectly willing to do enough talking for both of them. Warily, the stranger accepts the offer of hospitality but is slow to respond to his host’s conversational gambits. Immediately intrigued by the newcomer, the professor offers the stranger a few pills and, since the only hotel in town is shuttered for the season, a place to stay. That’s where he meets a retired literature professor (Sutherland) who just happens to be getting a refill for his migraine medicine. Just as obviously, he has a throbbing headache, which necessitates a trip to the local pharmacy. The traveler of the title (Mullen) arrives late one afternoon in a small town, obviously with something illegal on his agenda. Capably directed by Irish helmer Mary McGuckian (“This Is the Sea”), whose screenplay is aptly billed as a “translation” in the opening credits, “Man on the Train” pivots on a chance encounter between two disparate characters who are no less memorable for never being identified by name.
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