Monday, February 1, 2016

Movie review: The Best Offer

Virgil is a master auctioneer listing among his quirks a drive for perfection. When hired by an extremely reclusive heiress, whose face he has never seen, to auction her collectibles Virgil finds himself becoming obsessed and eventually, in love.

Geoffrey Rush (Virgil), Jim Sturgess (Robert), Sylvia Hoeks (Claire), Donald Sutherland (Billy), Philip Jackson (Fred), Dermot Crowley (Lambert), Kiruna Stamell (Girl in Bar), Liya Kebede (Sarah).

The Best Offer sounds a bit dry but is anything but in reality. The film begins slowly, smoothly gliding into a plot that is well detailed and deceivingly elusive. As the story evolves we find depth with the romance between Claire and Virgil. We also find intrigue with the mechanical parts Virgil has found, and which Robert is working to reassemble into some strange ancient robot. The story finally winds down with some excellent twists and turns.

Acting from Rush was wonderful. He did an amazing job taking a character we didn't like at the start of the film, making us like him, and eventually have sympathy for in the end. Hoeks played well against Rush, and did nicely with her part on her own as well. Sturgess was enjoyable and did nicely, as did Sutherland in a somewhat minor role. The remainder of the cast was solid and entertaining.

Camera work was good and made good use of the wonderful sets and backgrounds giving the film a very realistic feel. Action scenes were few and mild but fit the film perfectly. Dialogue had nice depth and was enjoyable throughout. Sound and soundtrack were also well done.

The Best Offer is quite simply a very good film well worth a watch. Technical work, acting, and production quality is very good and at just over two hours run-time, you may still want more! Crime, mystery, or dark romance fans should enjoy this one quite a bit so put it toward the top of your Must See list.

With nudity, sexuality, and some violence save this one for the oldest teens and above.

Released: 2013
Reviewed: 1.15.16
Star rating: 4 out of 5
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Dark Romance, Romantic Drama, International Drama

copyright ©2016 Dave Riedel

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