Image = Philip Seymour Hoffman's Final Film

When Philip Seymour Hoffman died last February, Entertainment Weekly uncharacteristically published their next issue with a full page photo of PSH on the cover with the caption: Brilliant. Troubled. Tragic., and the article inside began with "This one hurts."  Out of all that was written about Hoffman that week, EW came closest to commiserating with my grief.  After 5 months I still find Hoffman’s death inconceivable and extraordinarily tragic.  It still hurts a lot.  It's difficult to write about the final film he completed, but I also feel like I need to. This may be the last opportunity I have to write about the greatest actor of the past 25 years …  I had to honor his extraordinary talent once again, as I did in February.

PSH & Anton Corbijn on set

A Most Wanted Man is a suspenseful thriller about a manhunt for an immigrant who may be a terrorist in the port city of Hamburg, Germany.  This is not a genre that I normally seek out, but I made an exception because it is PSH's final film to be released (I am NOT counting The Hunger Games) and it is very well done.  It has a great international supporting cast, including relative unknown Grigoriy Dobrygin and German stars Nina Hoss and Daniel Bruhl.  I was most impressed with Rachel McAdams, who plays a German bleeding heart lawyer surprisingly well and holds her own with the likes of Willem Dafoe and PSH.

Although I believe Phil could play anything, this was still a departure for him in terms of tone and character.  The film is extremely tense and his character is a troubled German spy who is trying to do good work in the face of many personal and professional demons.  I don't intend to spoil anything and I am not a film critic, so I will be brief.  There are a few scenes where PSH displays incredible proficience in the art of subtle but profound acting.  I will now defer to Phil, his fellow actors and the director to speak for the film.     

 

One more thing - director Anton Corbijn and PSH had plans to work together again and Mr. Corbijn wrote a beautiful tribute in his grief on February 3.  My favorite part is, “His strength was a total immersion in the role and a lack of vanity.”  

A fitting epitaph for a remarkable actor.