Hello moviegoers, this week’s movie is quite the unusual movie called Man on the Train.
It is a new release and is a remake of a 2002 crime thriller by Patrice Leconte and stars Donald Sutherland and Larry Mullen Jr.
Sutherland needs no introduction to movie lovers but Mullen Jr. was not a familiar name to me.
I looked up Mullen Jr. on the internet and found out his ancestry is Irish and he is also a musician with the band U2.
Not deterred by this, I brought the movie home and found it to be well-acted and very surprising.
The story is unusual as it depicts a friendship that grows between two very unlikely personalities.
Into a small American town comes a mysterious criminal (Mullen Jr.) and he has plans to rob the local bank. He bumps into Sutherland, a local poetry professor, retired, and is cordially invited to stay with him for a short while.
Mullen Jr., the robber, begins to fear for the professor Sutherland’s safety but this is not to be the case.
The professor wishes he had done some daring things in his life and the younger one wished he had not. They would both like to trade places with the other. Their conversations are lively and interesting, opening new avenues of discussion for both. There are a few others in the movie but the two men take the lions’ share, as this story is about their budding friendship.
It leads slowly to the bank heist where some of the robber’s friends are abetting him and I will not tell you how this movie ends as it is quite a surprise.
With only two main characters, and very little female input, this is a rare gem.
I personally like to see men talking deeply to each other; women have been doing this for centuries, now it would be good to hear the men doing the same. Donald Sutherland’s role is that of a wordy, shy rather charming older man and I must say he is very convincing in this role.
Perhaps I will see Larry Mullen Jr. in more movies, as this is the first time I have ever seen him in one.
Together, they team for one very unusual interesting film. It stays far away from Hollywood theatrics and glamour, uses pure talent, wonderful to see. I would end by saying this is a character-acting movie, a bit like Carnage where the acting takes precedent over everything else. Definitely worth watching people.
– Liz Martin is a film critic for the Grand Forks Gazette, movie lover, cello player and happy retiree
