The usual suspects

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Movie
German title The usual suspects
Original title The Usual Suspects
Country of production United States
original language English , Hungarian , Spanish , French
Publishing year 1995
length 106 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Bryan Singer
script Christopher McQuarrie
production Michael McDonnell ,
Bryan Singer
music John Ottman
camera Newton Thomas Sigel
cut John Ottman
occupation

The Usual Suspects (original title: The Usual Suspects ) is a feature from director Bryan Singer from the year 1995 . Along with The Sixth Sense, it is one of the best-known examples of the use of the stylistic device of unreliable narration in a film.

action

Most of the plot is told by the physically disabled petty criminal Verbal Kint during an interrogation in a police office and shown in flashbacks. Kint was arrested for being one of the two survivors of a ship explosion that left 27 dead in the port of San Pedro, Los Angeles . He was a member of a gang with whom he carried out some well-organized raids. Although Kint has already testified, for which he was guaranteed complete impunity, the customs inspector David Kujan still manages to arrange an unofficial interrogation in a colleague's office.

The story told by Kint begins six weeks earlier in New York , where Kint is arrested with criminals Dean Keaton, McManus, Fenster and Hockney on suspicion of robbing a truck and locked in a cell together. McManus and Fenster have known each other for five years; Keaton actually wants to get out of the gangster life and initially have nothing to do with the others. Defense attorney Edie Finneran, Keaton's lover, helps criminals to get an early release. Shortly afterwards, the five start various coups together: including an attack on a secret "taxi service" operated by corrupt police officers of the New York police, and an attack on an emerald dealer . In Los Angeles , they sell the goods to a contact named Redfoot. Another attack on a jeweler ends with Kint having to shoot the victim because Keaton hesitates too long. When they only find cocaine instead of jewelry , Redfoot puts the responsibility on an intermediary named Kobayashi, who wants to meet with them anyway.

While Kints statement is the Hungarian Kovács, who survived the ship's explosion with severe burns, has in the hospital from the FBI - agents visited Baer. With the help of an interpreter , he reveals the name of a legendary gang boss , Keyser Söze , who is always pulling the strings in the background, but has never been seen. With the help of Kovács statements, a phantom picture of Söze is to be made. Kujan learns of the statements and brings the name Keyser Söze into play during an interrogation with Kint. Kint then tells a story about Söze's criminal beginnings in Turkey , when he killed his own family in order to then settle accounts with his enemies in the drug war against the Hungarian mafia . He first murdered their families, then all of their business partners, and finally them.

Kint then continues his report: The five men meet with Kobayashi, who granted them an order of Keyser Söze what later to be a suicide mission turns out. On a freighter in the port of Los Angeles, the Hungarian mafia is said to be storing a cocaine load worth 91 million dollars, which the gang is supposed to take. Kobayashi explains that it is not an offer, but an order from the " devil himself" (quote from the film), the greatest mystery of the underworld, Keyzer Söze, of which no one knows whether it actually exists. Each of the five has reportedly robbed Keyzer Söze of a lot of money in one way or another in the past. Söze seems to have information about the entire life of each individual and thus has it all in hand. The runaway window is found dead on the beach by the others. Then the other four attack Kobayashi, but he threatens that something will happen to Keaton's friend Edie if he is killed. The men now see no other way out and start the attack on the ship, but cannot find any cocaine there and want to leave again, but McManus and Hockney are killed by an unknown person. Keaton calls an unknown man "Keyser" and is shot dead at close range. Kint reports that he observed this scene from a safe hiding place because he was hired by Keaton to take care of Edie. The man addressed as Keyser ignites a trail of gasoline with his lighter and flees from the ship. There is a huge explosion, but Kint can save himself. With that he ends his testimony.

Inspector Kujan does not want to believe the story at first, as the police did not find any drugs on the ship either. He is also convinced that Keaton may be Keyser Söze himself and is still alive. According to his theory, the aim of the action on the ship was not the removal of the drugs, but the murder of an Argentine informant named Arturo Marquez, who wanted to testify against Keyser Söze. That night, the Argentines wanted to sell Marquez to the Hungarian gang. Keaton received the information about Marquez from Edie, who was in charge of his case. That's why Keaton recently murdered Edie. Kint gives in and claims to have been used by Keaton from the beginning due to his disability. But at the same time he refuses to testify against him as a key witness and leaves the police station.

Shortly afterwards, while drinking coffee, Kujan looks at the bulletin board that hung behind him during the interrogation. He suddenly realizes that Kint has taken the cornerstones and names of his story from the advertising posters and arrest warrants on them. Kujan is horrified and drops his coffee cup, which breaks on the floor. “Kobayashi” is written on the bottom of the cup. After this discovery, Agent Kujan runs after Kint. The moment Agent Kujan leaves the police station, the phantom image is faxed from the hospital. The phantom image has striking similarities with Kint, and it becomes clear to the viewer that Roger “Verbal” Kint is Keyser Söze. While Kint is walking through town, the viewer hears parts of the conversation between Kint and Kujan and the group that Kint was part of yesterday and whose members are now all dead. Kint gradually loses his limp as he flees, and it becomes clear that he has been faking the disability all along. Then a car stops next to Kint. He takes out his lighter, which is recognizable as the one Söze used to light the ship, and lights a cigarette. You can hear the sentence from Kint, which he used during interrogation when he was talking about Söze: "And after that I would like to bet that you will never hear from him again." Then he gets into the car that the man is driving who Kint described in his story as Kobayashi. While Kint gets in and is driven away, Agent Kujan stands on the sidewalk and looks through the crowd, searching. The end of the film shows the square with Agent Kujan in the middle and Kint's words can be heard: “The greatest trick the devil has ever done was to make the world believe he doesn't even exist. And just like that ... he's gone. "

Film music

The soundtrack is by John Ottman .

  1. Main Theme from "The Usual Suspects"
  2. Getting on board
  3. The story begins
  4. Payback time
  5. Farewell window
  6. He's here!
  7. The garage
  8. Verbal kint
  9. Keyzer Appears
  10. It was beautiful
  11. The arrests
  12. Redfoot
  13. New York's Finest
  14. Kobayashi's domain
  15. The Killing Of A Rat
  16. I Work For Keyzer Soze
  17. The Faces Of His Family
  18. The plan begins
  19. Back to the pier
  20. Casing The Boat
  21. A poison
  22. The greatest trick
  23. The Water
  24. Les Sons Et Les Parfums Tournent Dans L'Air Du Soir

criticism

source rating
Rotten tomatoes
critic
audience
Metacritic
critic
audience
IMDb

The film received mostly positive reviews and an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metascore of 77 on Metacritic .

“Elaborately structured crime film in several flashbacks, which describes the background of a bloody shootout with 27 dead on the basis of the interrogation of one of the participants. Staged with numerous allusions to film history, it relies entirely on stylistic pointers and a surprising ending in which the film image is exposed as a lie. Above the basic idea, the coherent design of the characters and the persuasiveness of the plot are lost, at least in phases. "

- Lexicon of International Films

“Sometimes the film threatens to freeze in all its stylization through camera, editing, music and narrative structure. As far as the conscious and effective use of funds is concerned, Bryan Singer hardly has to shy away from comparison today. But to breathe real 'life' into his films - through the vitality of their characters - he should continue to refine that. "

- film service 1/1996

“The highlight here is clearly the spectacular final turn. What screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie, with whom Singer already worked on 'Lion Den's', lets go of the audience is so surprising that large parts of the cinema audience at the time became almost speechless and the specialist press literally turned over. McQuarrie rightly received the Oscar for Best Screenplay. The final sequence, in which Chazz Palminteri realizes what is being played, is undoubtedly one of the best and most intelligent moments in cinema that Hollywood has ever produced. "

- filmstarts.de

background

In the original (The Usual Suspects), as in German, the film title refers to a famous film quote from the final scene of the film Casablanca : "Round up the usual suspects!" - "Arrest the usual suspects!"

The idea for the film comes from Christopher McQuarrie , who described it to his friend, director Bryan Singer, at the Sundance Film Festival . In just 35 days the film was shot in Los Angeles and New York.

It premiered at the 1995 Cannes International Film Festival out of competition. It was released in the US on August 16, 1995 and in Germany on January 18, 1996.

Awards

  • 1995: Awards Circuit Community Awards
    • ACCA: Nominated for Best Supporting Actor: Kevin Spacey
    • ACCA: Best Ensemble
  • Casting Society of America
    • Best casting
  • Chlotrudis Award 1996
    • Best Supporting Actor: Kevin Spacey
  • César Awards, France 1996
    • Nominated for best foreign film (Meilleur film étranger) Bryan Singer
  • Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 1996
    • Best Supporting Actor: Kevin Spacey
    • Best Screenplay: Christopher McQuarrie
    • Nominated: Best Film
  • Edgar Allan Poe Awards 1996
    • Best movie
  • Empire Awards
    • Best debut: Bryan Singer
  • Kinema Junpo Awards
    • Best foreign film
  • Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award
    • Second place for Kevin Spacey for Best Supporting Actor
  • 1996: Sant Jordi Award
    • Best Foreign Actor (Mejor Actor Extranjero): Chazz Palminteri
  • 1995: Seattle International Film Festival
    • Golden Space Needle Award: Best Director Bryan Singer
    • Golden Space Needle Award: Best Actor Kevin Spacey
  • 1995 Society of Texas Film Critics Awards 1995
    • Best movie
    • Best Director: Bryan Singer
    • Best Supporting Actor: Kevin Spacey
    • Best Screenplay: Christopher McQuarrie
  • Southeastern Film Critics Association Award
    • Eighth place as best film

literature

  • Michaela Krützen : Unreliable narration in the film: The tale of lies The Usual Suspects . In: Lorenz, Mathias N. (2010) (ed.): Film in literature lessons. From the early history of the cinema to the symbolic medium of the computer. Fillibach Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau, ISBN 978-3-12-688036-7 , pp. 135-172.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b [1] at Rotten Tomatoes , accessed on November 25, 2014
  2. ↑ a b [2] at Metacritic , accessed on November 25, 2014
  3. ↑ The usual suspects in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  4. ↑ The Usual Suspects in the Lexicon of International Films
  5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDhGS4EJS8M