The Clearing (film)

Last updated

The Clearing
Clearing movie poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Pieter Jan Brugge
Written byPieter Jan Brugge
Justin Haythe
Produced byPieter Jan Brugge
Jonah Smith
Palmer West
Starring Robert Redford
Helen Mirren
Willem Dafoe
Cinematography Denis Lenoir
Edited by Kevin Tent
Music by Craig Armstrong
Production
companies
Blue Ridge Motion Pictures
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Mediastream Dritte Film GmbH & Co. Beteiligungs KG
Thousand Words
Wildwood Enterprises
Distributed byFox Searchlight Pictures
Release dates
  • July 2, 2004 (2004-07-02)(United States)
  • December 23, 2004 (2004-12-23)(Germany)
Running time
95 minutes
CountriesGermany
United States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$12.5 million [1]

The Clearing is a 2004 American thriller drama film and the directorial debut of film producer Pieter Jan Brugge. The film is loosely based on the real-life kidnapping of Gerrit Jan Heijn that took place in the Netherlands in 1987. The screenplay was written by Justin Haythe.

Contents

Plot

Wayne Hayes and his wife Eileen are living the American dream in a wealthy Pittsburgh suburb, having raised two children and built up a successful business from scratch. He is looking forward to a peaceful retirement with Eileen. Everything changes when Wayne is kidnapped in broad daylight by a former employee, Arnold Mack. While Wayne tries negotiating with the kidnapper, Eileen works with the FBI to try to secure her husband's release. During the investigation, Eileen learns that Wayne has continued an extramarital affair that he promised to end months previously.

Eileen is eventually instructed to deliver the ransom to the kidnapper, but Arnold takes the money without returning her husband; Arnold murdered Wayne the day of the kidnapping. Eileen's ordeal takes place over the course of a week, but the film shows Wayne's kidnapping as if it were happening at the same time.

Authorities eventually catch Arnold when he starts spending the ransom money in the neighborhood where he lives. At a local grocery store, he uses a $100 bill for a purchase. The store manager calls to verify the serial number on the $100 bill is on a watch list the FBI distributed to local businesses. During questioning, police ask Arnold if he wanted to be caught, and he admits that the kidnapping was to get money for his depressed wife—but it took him all day to bring himself to kill Wayne and he could not live with the guilt of his crime. In the end, Eileen receives a loving note written by Wayne before his death.

Cast

Locations

The film was shot in and around Asheville, North Carolina [2] and in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [3]

Reception

The film has received mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 43%, based on 134 reviews, with an average rating of 5.60/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Though it has an excellent cast, this emotionally detached movie is the kind that one admires more than enjoys." [4] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [5]

According to Roger Ebert, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times , it "doesn't feel bound by the usual formulas of crime movies. What eventually happens will emerge from the personalities of the characters, not from the requirements of Hollywood endings." [6] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote, "The pleasures of this endeavor, directed with a keen eye for detail by Pieter Jan Brugge, come from what the actors bring to the material." [7]

Ty Burr, in the Boston Globe , felt that the film had a "lack of emotion" and "could have been more than it is". [8] M. Torreiro, in the Spanish newspaper El País , described the film a "tense thriller, cramped and made of downtime and sensations on the limit, a strange film." [9]

Related Research Articles

<i>After the Sunset</i> 2004 film

After the Sunset is a 2004 American heist action comedy film directed by Brett Ratner and starring Pierce Brosnan as Max Burdett, a master thief caught in a pursuit with FBI agent Stan Lloyd, played by Woody Harrelson. It was shot in the Bahamas. The film was met with negative reviews and flopped at the box office.

<i>Ransom</i> (1996 film) 1996 film directed by Ron Howard

Ransom is a 1996 American action thriller film directed by Ron Howard from a screenplay by Richard Price and Alexander Ignon. The film stars Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Gary Sinise, Delroy Lindo, Lili Taylor, Brawley Nolte, Liev Schreiber, Donnie Wahlberg and Evan Handler. Gibson was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. The film was the 5th highest-grossing film of 1996 in the United States. The original story came from a 1954 episode of The United States Steel Hour titled "Fearful Decision". In 1956, it was adapted by Cyril Hume and Richard Maibaum into the feature film, Ransom!, starring Glenn Ford, Donna Reed, and Leslie Nielsen.

<i>Kinsey</i> (film) 2004 American film

Kinsey is a 2004 American biographical drama film written and directed by Bill Condon. It describes the life of Alfred Charles Kinsey, a pioneer in the area of sexology. His 1948 publication, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male was one of the first recorded works that tried to scientifically address and investigate sexual behavior in humans. The film also stars Laura Linney, Chris O'Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard, Timothy Hutton, John Lithgow, Tim Curry, and Oliver Platt.

<i>Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous</i> 2005 film by John Pasquin

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous is a 2005 American female buddy action comedy film and sequel to the 2000 film Miss Congeniality directed by John Pasquin and written by co-producer Marc Lawrence with the title role played once again by star and co-producer Sandra Bullock. William Shatner, Ernie Hudson and Heather Burns also reprised their roles from the previous film with Regina King, Enrique Murciano, Diedrich Bader and Treat Williams joining the cast.

<i>Three... Extremes</i> 2005 film by Fruit Chan, Park Chan-wook, Takashi Miike

Three... Extremes is a 2004 horror anthology film. A follow-up to Three (2002), it follows the same concept of three individual segments by directors from three East Asian countries.

<i>Red Rock West</i> 1993 American film directed by John Dahl

Red Rock West is a 1993 American post-Western neo-noir thriller film directed by John Dahl and starring Nicolas Cage, Lara Flynn Boyle, J. T. Walsh, and Dennis Hopper. It was written by Dahl and his brother Rick, and shot in Montana, Willcox, Arizona, Sonoita, Arizona and Elgin, Arizona.

<i>Last Dance</i> (1996 film) 1996 American film

Last Dance is a 1996 crime drama thriller film directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Sharon Stone, Rob Morrow, Randy Quaid and Peter Gallagher.

<i>The Prince of Pennsylvania</i> 1988 film by Ron Nyswaner

The Prince of Pennsylvania is a 1988 comedy drama film written and directed by Ron Nyswaner. It stars Fred Ward, Keanu Reeves, Bonnie Bedelia and Amy Madigan. It premiered at the 1988 Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 1988, and received a limited release beginning September 16.

<i>Brannigan</i> (film) 1975 film by Douglas Hickox

Brannigan is a 1975 British action thriller film directed by Douglas Hickox and starring John Wayne and Richard Attenborough filmed in Panavision and DeLuxe Color. One of the screenwriters was Dalton Trumbo's son, Christopher Trumbo.

<i>The Syrian Bride</i> 2004 Israeli film

The Syrian Bride is a 2004 film directed by Eran Riklis. The story deals with a Druze wedding and the troubles the politically unresolved situation creates for the personal lives of the people in and from the village. The film's plot looks at the Arab–Israeli conflict through the story of a family divided by political borders and how their lives are fractured by the region's harsh political realities.

<i>Winter Passing</i> 2005 American film

Winter Passing is a 2005 American comedy-drama film directed by playwright Adam Rapp and starring Ed Harris, Zooey Deschanel, Will Ferrell, Amelia Warner, Amy Madigan, and Dallas Roberts. Rapp's directorial debut, the film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival to mixed reviews and received a limited theatrical release in February 2006. The film was not released in the United Kingdom until 2013, when it was released under the new title Happy Endings.

<i>Along Came a Spider</i> (film) 2001 film by Lee Tamahori

Along Came a Spider is a 2001 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Lee Tamahori. It is the second installment in the Alex Cross film series and a sequel to the 1997 film Kiss the Girls, with Morgan Freeman and Jay O. Sanders reprising their roles as detective Alex Cross and FBI-agent Kyle Craig. The screenplay by Marc Moss was adapted from the 1993 novel of the same title by James Patterson, but many of the key plot elements of the book were eliminated. The film was a box office success, despite receiving mixed-to-negative reviews from critics like its predecessor.

<i>Untraceable</i> 2008 film by Gregory Hoblit

Untraceable is a 2008 American psychological thriller film directed by Gregory Hoblit and starring Diane Lane, Colin Hanks, Billy Burke, and Joseph Cross. It was distributed by Screen Gems.

<i>Buried</i> (film) 2010 film by Rodrigo Cortés

Buried is a 2010 English-language Spanish survival thriller film directed by Rodrigo Cortés. It stars Ryan Reynolds and was written by Chris Sparling.

<i>Win Win</i> (film) 2011 film by Tom McCarthy

Win Win is a 2011 American sports comedy-drama film written, directed, and co-produced by Tom McCarthy from a story by McCarthy and Joe Tiboni. It stars Paul Giamatti as a struggling attorney who, volunteering as a high-school wrestling coach, takes on the guardianship of an elderly client in a desperate attempt to keep his practice afloat. Alex Shaffer, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, and Jeffrey Tambor appear in supporting roles.

<i>For Ellen</i> 2012 American film

For Ellen is a 2012 American drama film written, produced and directed by So Yong Kim. It stars Paul Dano, who also served as an executive producer. It is Kim's first English-language film.

<i>Masterminds</i> (2016 film) 2016 US crime comedy film by Jared Hess

Masterminds is a 2016 crime comedy film based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery in North Carolina. Directed by Jared Hess and written by Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer and Emily Spivey, it stars Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Jason Sudeikis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Duvall filmography</span>

American actor, director, and producer Robert Duvall has had an extensive career in film and television since he first appeared in an episode of Armstrong Circle Theatre in 1959. His television work during the 1960s includes Route 66 (1961), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1962), The Twilight Zone (1963), The Outer Limits (1964), The F.B.I. (1965–1969), and The Mod Squad (1969). He was then cast as General Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1979 miniseries Ike. In 1989, he played Augustus "Gus" McCrae alongside Tommy Lee Jones in the epic Western adventure television miniseries Lonesome Dove. The role earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. Three years later, he portrayed Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader Joseph Stalin in the television film Stalin (1992), which earned him another Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Film.

<i>Hitchcock/Truffaut</i> (film) 2015 film

Hitchcock/Truffaut is a 2015 documentary film directed by Kent Jones.

Mindhunter is an American psychological crime thriller television series created by Joe Penhall, based on the 1995 true-crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker. The series debuted in 2017 and ran for two seasons. Executive producers included Penhall, Charlize Theron, and David Fincher, the latter of whom served as the series' most frequent director and de facto showrunner, overseeing many of the scriptwriting and production processes. The series stars Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, and Anna Torv, and follows the founding of the Behavioral Science Unit in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the late 1970s and the beginning of criminal profiling.

References

  1. ↑ "The Clearing (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Asheville in the Movies". Explore Asheville. September 25, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Filmed in Pittsburgh: Romance, Family, and Chosen Families". CMU Libraries. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  4. ↑ "The Clearing". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  5. ↑ "The Clearing". Metacritic . Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  6. ↑ Ebert, Roger (July 2, 2004). "The Clearing Movie Review & Film Summary (2004); Roger Ebert". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved July 13, 2024.
  7. ↑ Travers, Peter (July 2, 2004). "The Clearing; Movie Reviews". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
  8. ↑ Burr, Ty (July 2, 2004). "Lack of emotion clutters 'Clearing'". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on October 10, 2017. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
  9. ↑ "La sombra de un secuestro (2004)". Filmaffinity.com. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.