Two Men in Town (2014)

A Muslim ex-con forms a friendship with his parole officer.

Director:

Rachid Bouchareb

Writers:

Olivier Lorelle (adaptation), Yasmina Khadra (adaptation)

Stars:

Ellen Burstyn, Forest Whitaker, Tim Guinee

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Ellen Burstyn	...	Garnett's mother
Forest Whitaker	...	William Garnett
Tim Guinee	...	Rod
Brenda Blethyn	...	Emily Smith
Harvey Keitel	...	Bill Agati
Luis Guzmán	...	Terence
Reg E. Cathey	...	Supervisor Jones
Sarah Minnich	...	Christina
Dolores Heredia	...	Teresa Flores
Matthew Page	...	Prison Guard
Stan Carp	...	Richard Wayne
Augusta Allen-Jones	...	Bartender
Michael Anthony Stone	...	Sheriff Deputy (as Michael Stone)
Robert Dean	...	Deputy
Cheo Tapia	...	Party patron

Storyline

Forest Whitaker plays a parolee, who finds Allah inside, and tries to get his life on track after 18 years. He's off to a good start with a job, a bank account, and a good woman. Of course his old partner in crime tries hard to get him to come back to his old ways, but the real problem is the sheriff in town who won't let him forget his dark past.

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Plot Keywords:

new mexico | new mexico desert | new mexico mexico border | muslim | parole officer | 

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Taglines:

One man's freedom is another man's obsession.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film cast includes two Oscar winners: Forest Whitaker and Ellen Burstyn; and two Oscar nominees: Harvey Keitel and Brenda Blethyn.

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Quotes

Bill Agati: You can't break the law to enforce the law.

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Connections

Remake of Two Men in Town (1973)

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Soundtracks

A Prayer
by Éric Neveux
© 2014 Pathé Production / Tessalit Productions

User Reviews

Solid story with sufficient contents and ample interesting characters. Takes its time to develop and needs some trimming back in length and sub-plots

I saw this film at the Berlinale film festival 2014, where it was part of the official competition. It allows us sufficient time to get acquainted with the five main characters: (1) Garnett who is just released from prison after an 18 years sentence, (2) the sheriff whose deputy was killed by Garnett some 18 years ago, (3) an underworld-er who wants to enlist Garnett for a shady job, (4) Garnett's new girl friend who he met after his release while opening a bank account, and (5) last-but-not-least his assigned parole officer who takes her job very seriously, and even ruffles the sheriff's furs when the need arises. We also meet several side characters who are portrayed very well, in spite of their much shorter appearance. Yet, the full two hours running time stretches our patience unnecessarily.

The plot itself is not new in essence (ex-convict tries to keep on track), but this variant offers many novel directions given the ingredients included. The finale is not fully predictable, which is a good thing. Yet, I was not very satisfied with the chosen outcome (no details to avoid spoilers), preferably something more optimistic could be thought of. Further, I'm not sure about the need for some side tracking sub-plots, e.g. Garnett's conversion to Islam, the issues around the Mexican border, and amply showing off the landscape. Not all these are necessary for the core story, maybe even deemed redundant and better left out to get a more concise story.

Details

Country:

France Belgium Algeria USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 March 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Enemy Way

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$213,204

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tessalit Productions, Pathé, Agence Algérienne pour le Rayonnement Culturel (AARC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1