Norman (2016)

Norman Oppenheimer is a small time operator who befriends a young politician at a low point in his life. Three years later, when the politician becomes an influential world leader, Norman's life dramatically changes for better and worse.

Director:

Joseph Cedar

Writer:

Joseph Cedar

Stars:

Richard Gere, Lior Ashkenazi, Michael Sheen

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Gere	...	Norman Oppenheimer
Lior Ashkenazi	...	Micha Eshel
Michael Sheen	...	Phillip Cohen
Steve Buscemi	...	Rabbi Blumenthal
Yehuda Almagor	...	Duby
Neta Riskin	...	Hanna
Josh Charles	...	Arthur Taub
Dan Stevens	...	Bill Kavish
Harris Yulin	...	Jo Wilf
Doval'e Glickman	...	Ron Maor (as Dov Glickman)
Tali Sharon	...	Naomi Eshel
Charlotte Gainsbourg	...	Alexandra (Alex) Green
Isaach De Bankolé	...	Jacques (as Isaach De Bankole)
Miranda Bailey	...	Taub's Assistant
D.C. Anderson	...	Congressman Bob Easterly

Storyline

Norman Oppenheimer is the President of New York based Oppenheimer Strategies. His word-of-mouth business is consulting work largely in American-Israeli business and politics, that focus due to being Jewish. Most of that work is as a fixer: doing work that others don't want to do and with which they don't want to be officially associated. In reality, Norman is a shyster, and not a very good one at that. His office is comprised of his cell phone and whatever is stuffed in his satchel which is usually slung over his shoulder as he wanders the streets. What he promises is making connections, setting up a meeting between his guy and the other guy. Generally, "his guy" is non-existent, he dropping names of people he usually doesn't know to make connections. A usual tactic he uses is to say that his deceased wife was personally connected to so-and-so, such as being a babysitter, those stories always untrue. All he needs is for one of the people that he approaches to believe a story to build ...

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Plot Keywords:

shoes | scam artist | con artist | cell phone | politician | 

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Taglines:

He's an operator. He's an optimist. He's a mystery.

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Israel USA

Language:

English Hebrew

Release Date:

14 April 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Norman

Filming Locations:

New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$99,211, 14 April 2017, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$3,810,812, 14 July 2017

Company Credits

Production Co:

Blackbird, Cold Iron Pictures, Movie Plus productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Half of the film was shot in New York City and half of it in Jerusalem, Israel. The original poster for the movie showed the two main actors, Richard Gere and Lior Ashkenazi, standing back to back, with Gere in New York City and Ashkenazi in Jerusalem.

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Quotes

Norman Oppenheimer: There are two kinds of moguls: First kind is like a big ocean liner ship. Makes a lot of waves, a lot of noise, everybody sees it coming from miles away. Like Jo Wilf. I think your boss, Minister Maor, is actually... in his close circle of friends. of course. And then there is Arthur. Well, Arthur is more like a nuclear submarine. he's quiet, he's fast, he's young. Extremely sophisticated.

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Connections

References Exodus (1960)

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Soundtracks

Mi Sheberach
Traditional
Arranged by Raymond Goldstein

User Reviews

White collar hustler dabs with politics = slow, political b.s. and very pointless.

Washed up older white collar hustler dabs with politics = slow, political b.s. and very pointless, and I do mean pointless.

I was hoping for some big climax, and granted I got some interesting story line towards the last 20 mins of this film, but not worth the wait. I considered giving up watching this to the end at least 4x since the start.

The almost 2 hours of this film needed to be edited down to 1:20 mins.

I still gave it a 5/10 only due to the outstanding performances by Richard Gere, Lior Ashkenazi, Michael Sheen and Steve Buscemi as the Rabbi, who really wasn't meant for this role. Every time I see him, I expect comedy, and this wasn't his character.

The ending was bittersweet, but the build up towards it was very slow and dragged out.

If you're into politics, especially Israel/USA issues, and like the scenery of NYC, then you may find this more enjoyable.

Only the characters barely held my attention.

It's barely a 5/10 from me.