American Star. Slow burning film with Ian McShane on AMC+

"American Star" is an art house variant of the familiar story of an old hitman facing his mortality while doing what might be his last job. Filmed on the gobsmackingly gorgeous Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, it takes a soft-spoken, slowed-down contemplative approach to the material, omitting things whenever it can, rarely depicting any situation in the obvious way, and anchoring itself to a lead performance by Ian McShane that's a great example of how to take a reactive, at times silent character and make his thoughts and emotions legible to the viewer. It's all in the face, especially the eyes. There are are several long closeups of McShane in this film where you feel every feeling as it happens.

What's it about? I've seen "American Star" and I'm still not entirely sure—partly because director Gonzalo López-Gallego, who also edited the movie, and screenwriter Nacho Faerna go long stretches without dropping bits of exposition; but mainly because it's the sort of film where the look and sound and overall energy is what it's really "about," not so much any obviously spelled-out theme.

The film begins with Wilson arriving in Fuerteventura, picking up a rental car and going to a modernist house in the desert, presumably where the target is, but the house is empty, and the arrival of a young woman (Nora Arnezeder) prompts him to leave. He goes into town, where he's staying at a luxury hotel, and behaves like a man on vacation (which is what he tells people who him ask why he's there). He sees a bit of live music (including a couple of performers in a hotel lounge doing an acoustic cover of Europe's "Final Countdown&quot and gets to know locals, workers and fellow resort guests, including a young boy (Oscar Coleman) who sits on the floor in Wilson's hallway outside of a closed door while his parents argue. Wilson goes out for a drink and meets the same woman he saw in the house, a bartender named Gloria. Gloria will take a liking to Wilson and even bring him home to meet her mother (Fanny Ardant). Wilson and Gloria don't have the kind of relationship you think. When you find out what sort of relationship they're building, it deepens Wilson, and opens up surprising aspects of Gloria's character as well.
SNIP
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/american-star-film-review-2024