[rating: 4/5]
Jimmy (Matt Dillon) is a man on the run. A conman who’s been working with longtime partner and mentor Marvin (James Caan) on an insurance fraud scheme, he’s now under investigation by the FBI. He leaves the US, only to find out from another partner, Joseph Kaspar (Stellan Skarsgard), that Marvin is Cambodia. That is where Jimmy runs to find him.
As one of the few thrillers being shown at the Savannah Film Festival, “City of Ghosts” certainly stands out. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to rely on only that distinction to do so. While not a perfect film, its strengths far outweigh its weaknesses.
Right away the first striking thing about this movie is its visuals. Cambodia is a beautiful country full of many colors and the cinematography adds to it. As the film progresses, certain scenes will take on varying levels of hue and saturation, playing off the natural environments to create visceral feelings in the audience.
Take a scene later in the film for example. Marvin and Kaspar are stuck in a seedy bar escaping from people who want them dead – as often happens to conmen in films. To accentuate the downright weirdness of the situation, the film takes on a darker, duller look that combined with the bar’s red lights, captures the foreboding feel of the scene amazingly. Moments like this aren’t hard to find in the film, to the credit of cinematographer Jim Denault.
And then, there are the characters.
Jimmy is a good leading character. Too weary for his age, it’s easy to see from the first scene that he’s tired of the life he’s led. Rooting for him isn’t hard. Caan and Skarsgard meanwhile, bring charm and subtle humor to their characters that is refreshingly disarming in an intense film.
Of course, the film has many Cambodian characters, including ex-general Sideth (Chalee Sankhavesa) who has partnered with Marvin. Sankhavesa does a good job at playing a corrupt figure, and he layers it with some nice subtle hints at darker intentions. Besides him, there are other prominent Cambodian characters, most of them antagonistic in some way. Well, except for Sok.
Played by Kem Sereyvuth, Sok is a cyclo driver who becomes Jimmy’s closest friend and ally during his time in the country. It’s telling that Sok is the first person Jimmy meets in Cambodia; it sets up a parallel between this friendship and the relationship Jimmy has with Kaspar. We never see Kaspar care for Jimmy in any actual way, but Sok brings Jimmy to a doctor after the latter is beaten and left in an alley.
Sok keeps things in perspective and reminds the audience of the good in people and in Cambodia. For a film whose entire premise is built around bad things happening in Cambodia, it’s helpful to have a counter balance.
The film tries to keep this sentiment going with Sophie (Natscha McElhone), an NGO worker who Jimmy becomes romantically involved with as the story progresses. She’s not a bad character and McElhone does a good job with what she has to work with. The problem is that she’s not given a lot to work with. Sophie is practically the archetypical romantic interest figure. Her only real purpose is to represent a possible redemption for Jimmy. Again, fine, but in a movie that has so many good, diverse characters, she felt slightly shallow.
Toward the end, there appeared to be hints of her possibly double crossing Jimmy, but it was ultimately wishful thinking. Certainly, Sophie’s character doesn’t drag the film down immensely, but she also doesn’t add anything really new.
“City of Ghosts,” might stumble here and there, but it ultimately hits its mark.
