The Merry Gentleman (2008)

Director: Michael Keaton

Writer: Ron Lazzeretti

Composers: Jonathan Sadoff, Ed Shearmur

Starring: Michael Keaton, Kelly Macdonald, Tom Bastounes, Mike Bradecich, Debbi Burns, Maritza Cabrera, Bobby Cannavale, Esther Claire, William Dick, Jay Disney, Mike Falevits, Sean Fortunato

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A man with a secret. A woman with a past.

Plot: Fleeing her abusive husband, Kate Frazier travels to Chicago to start a new life. But upon fatefully disrupting remorseful hitman Frank Logan's suicide, she becomes intertwined in the lonely killer's life and that of the sullen detective attempting to track him down.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Frank (Keaton) is a quiet man who kills people.  I dug that we never know who he works for and his world isn't explored.  All we need to know is his profession and he's suicidal.  The reasons are immaterial. The 'not knowing' is nice.  His relationship with Kate (Macdonald) is equally quiet.  The cinematography is quiet and so is the nice piano-centric score.  A few people die but in a quiet way.  Shit, it's a quiet film.  The performances are good, as are the story and other technical aspects but I found it perhaps too quiet.  Some parts move slowly but that could be due to the tenderness the film is being treated.  Keaton stepped into the director's chair when the original director, Ron Lazzeretti, took ill.  It's a worthy effort on Keaton's part.  It's not flashy or ego-stroking like some actors' directorial debuts.  It would have been neat to see this set in the 20s or 30s.  Aesthetically it looked like that's what they were going for. 







nice piano-centric score