Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Cooktopi The acting in this movie is really good.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Leftbanker The novel by John Le Carré is the best spy novel ever written. It is a work of pure genius and it elevates the genre to literature. Daniel Silva has made a career of out basically borrowing everything from this book for his Gabriel Allon series.Forget about the fact that she's a terrible actress but Diane Keaton is just too old for the part. Charlie was a very young and hip woman, not a middle-aged dork...and she was English. She isn't even hot enough for the role. In the movie she's obviously too old for the Arab terrorist Michel who she was supposed to be involved with. Yorgo Voyagis as Joseph was also a little too old for the part and he is just too much of a Rock Hudson lookalike for my tastes. The best bit of casting was Klaus Kinski as Kurtz.If ever a movie needs to be remade it would be this excellent story.

John Peters I recently saw "The Little Drummer Girl" on DVD and liked it a lot. Diane Keaton is at the heights of her powers and Klaus Kinski is convincing as Martin Kurtz (a possible reference to Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"), a lead Israeli intelligence operative. All of the acting, direction, and cinematography are competent or better. Roger Ebert and others have downgraded the movie because of the complexity of its plot. To me, the plot is not the true focus, any more than it is in Raymond Chandler novels. What the movie is really about is the power of acting and the ways in which actors love and are consumed by their roles.The one who loves and becomes consumed is Charlie, the Diane Keaton character. She is a star actress in a British repertory company who overwhelms colleagues and audiences by her ability to bring roles to life. She is also an enthusiastic partisan of the Palestinian cause who we see raising her voice with dramatic intensity at a public meeting. By doing this, she becomes a person of interest to an Israeli intelligence operative who recognizes her potential for his side. The Israelis kidnap her and promise to release her after they've told her what they want and what they can offer.What they can offer is the acting opportunity of a lifetime, and one that will give her an opportunity to influence events in the real world to a far greater extent than by her flamboyant participation in demonstrations. She says that all she really wants is a just settlement and peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Kurtz agrees with her, and says that they want these things as well but that extremists on both sides are hurting the efforts of both reasonable Palestinians and reasonable Israelis. By using her talents to work for them, he says, she can help to make what she wants possible.The role of a lifetime turns out to have a dual character at which she excels. She is able to adopt both Israeli and Palestinian causes and, after extensive training from both sides, to gain the confidence of a key Palestinian terrorist. Sex plays a significant part although we are spared shots of nude bodies in motion. There's bloody violence and the film's eventual ending can be seen as a comment on the limitations of great acting.

khaled-19 Hey, WHOLE thing is just fabulous!!! I really appreciate the idea, the plot of eternal choice between ideas and feelings, human valuables and political views.. I think cast and directing are just amazing!!!! Why the hell Diane Keaton is too old?? Are you crazy? Are you go insane?? SHE'S PERFECT in that role so as in ALL her roles!!! She is highly believable as a woman, who wanted just to date with a gye and then found herself in that terrible adventure, without any right answer on question - what is wrong and what is right. She was like ship, which lost course and she tried to orientate on her feelings and that was so hard, because she understood both sides of fight and couldn't stand from..OMG, every woman could understand this.. I really love this movie, although it's too hard to re-watch it.

jfmcmurry This film is detailed and occasionally harsh, but told by a master storyteller. the director has modified the John LeCarre novel somewhat, but weaves a strong story. It's a little hard to follow if you don't know much about the world of Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but provides quite an education by its end.It begins with the assassination (bombing) of an Israeli diplomat and family and then jumps to an American stage actress, Charlie (Diane Keaton), who's currently living in Britain. She is ideologically a supporter of the Palestinian cause. She has a problem with falling in love easily and sympathizing with her lover. You begin to see the wheels turning in Israeli intelligence as they research and try to react to this most recent terrorist bombing.They skillfully recruit/seduce her by pretending to support the Palestinian movement. To be effective in their scheme, they need someone authentic. They try to get under her skin and into her personal psyche (why she is an actress, pain in her life). Klaus Kinski is superb as the head of the Israeli intelligence effort.After feeling more confident, they put her work to infiltrate the Palestinian-backed terrorist camps to ultimately get to the almost impossible to find bomber Khalil. This involves serious physical/military training. She excels and is given more and more trusted tasks as the story progresses. The story takes many twists and is very detailed and realistic in it's portrayal of both sides. It gets a little heavy, but is fascinating to watch unfold even a second time.I give it a solid recommendation.