Thursday, April 13, 2017

Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer

In their latest, and 5th movie collaboration, Academy Award® nominated writer-director Joseph Cedar and producer David Mandil (Footnote, 2011; Beaufort, 2007), create in Norman an intricate drama about a humble, lonely man whose downfall is driven by the human need to matter.

Norman Oppenheimer (Richard Gere) is a 'fixer', an outsider who tries to make himself valuable by associating with and helping powerful people get favors.


When Norman sets his sights on Micha Eshel (Lior Ashkenazi), an Israeli politician in New York, he unwittingly finds himself in a complex web with a potential of an international catastrophe linking the Israeli Prime Minister to Norman's nephew (Michael Sheen), a rabbi (Steve Buscemi), a mogul (Harris Yulin), his assistant (Dan Stevens), and a treasury official from the Ivory Coast.

Along with strong performances by an all star cast, Richard Gere leads in what may be one of his best performances, a new and different role in which he delivers a vividly compelling representation of Norman.

Through Jun Miyake’s score, clever split screens, and expertly choreographed scenes, Cedar creates an engaging and suspenseful feature.