The Little Drummer Girl

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Kevin H Mar 14 Sometimes being very familiar with the source is a problem when watching a movie. For the most part, it is a problem here as well. The book contains many characters and subplots that simply can't fit into a 2-hour movie. In the book, Charlie is a British actress (inspired by Lynn Redgrave?) and is much younger than Diane Keaton. FWIW, I think Keaton is in this movie so American audiences could be familiar with at least one actor in the film. Only Kurtz (Klaus Kinski) and Gadi Becker (Yorgo Voyagis) rang true to the novel characters; many others (like Charlie's agent, Ned Quilly), the Palestinian commander Tayeh, and some of the Israeli characters like Shimon Litvak, Rose, Schwili, and others have small underdeveloped cameos but were much more important in the novel. I believe that Kinski's performance elevates an average movie to a very respectable one. See more 10/20/2024 Diane Keaton is a young pro-Palestinian actress Charlie in West Germany She has a penchant for lying Then she is asked by an Israeli agent to play the role of a lifetime Charlie is tasked with being a spy in order to catch a terrorist bomber pretending to be the girlfriend of his dead brother Can she play the part or get lost along the way? The film is a bit of a slog to be honest and it drabs out the conspiracy narrative too many times See more arya s 05/31/2021 Not being familiar with the novel or newer TV version, this film version seems very dated in its production values and the miscasting of Keaton as an actress who would be able to pull off a life-or death role as a spy. Her hair style, ridiculous padded-shouldered outfits, static cinematography, stilted acting, all seem very ‘80s dated, especially compared to the ‘65 black and white The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, which still seems fresh and gripping. Was Charlie supposed to be somewhat silly and goofy? A actress playing an actress playing an actress requires layers of subtlety of acting, missing here. But the story is intense and intriguing, as with all Le Carre works, and makes it a worthy watch. See more uncle p 07/23/2020 Story/Screenplay: (3/5) Despite having a somewhat interesting and unique storyline, this drama strains credibility at times. In the end, the story was OK, but was not good enough to be good. Duration/Tempo: (3/5) At 2 hours and 10 minutes, it's a very long movie that felt shorter, but it was still long. Would have liked to see it trimmed down a bit. Cast & Crew: (3.5/5) Diane Keaton was very good. Given an imperfect storyline, her performance almost saved the film. Summary: (3/5) The cast was good, but the story was only fair and the film felt like it should have been shorter. A borderline thumbs down. See more 01/17/2020 I had no idea what to expect when going into The Little Drummer Girl. I was delighted when I discovered it was a somewhat realistic movie about the real world of espionage. I’ve always enjoyed these kind of films, whether they are more sensational like James Bond, or more gritty and authentic like this one. The story is a fascinating one as Israeli intelligence recruits a young American actress to infiltrate a faction of Palestinian bombers. I was riveted by some of the training and challenges that she faced, and it was shocking to see how far they would go when trying to convince her to work with them. Diane Keaton did a great job because she’s basically playing a role of someone playing a role that is then tasked with playing another role. The complexity of her situation (with all those layers of deception) is daunting and she plays it brilliantly. There are slow parts in the film, and I thought I was going to get bored, but because there was always a lingering sense of danger for our protagonist, I never quite lost interest. I found it quite satisfying how the film highlighted some of the complexities that come from an American getting involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and that it asks the viewer to question who is truly the terrorist. I didn’t love some of the things that they made the protagonist do, and I struggled with the ending a bit. However, The Little Drummer Girl was overall a solid film that I would gladly watch again. See more 08/11/2018 Excellent performances and a believable story. I don't understand why some reviewers took issue with it. I was engrossed by all of it, found it easy to follow, and felt it did justice to the human cost on both sides of the Israel / Palestine conflict. Worth seeing. See more Read all reviews

The Little Drummer Girl

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