Customer Reviews

People I Know

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

It is very difficult to show something that is hidden and in front of our faces. Sometimes this matter takes a sensionality show like a playing game, other times the director can not transmit the real and invisible world. However this is not the case of this film. It is very precise and perfect in the message.

This film shows us what we can not see with our common eyes. Another level of what is real. Everything may be programmed and exactly directed to a certain target.

We normally see the effects and not the cause.

People that enjoyed Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick, American Psycho will certainly enjoy this excellent movie.

Eli Wurman (Al Pacino) is a down-and-out New York publicist whose career has seen better days. Once the friend and confidant of the entertainment elite, he has only one remaining A-list client, playboy movie star Cary Launer (Ryan O'Neal). Undaunted in his support of humanitarian causes, Eli insists that Cary speak at a charity benefit that he is organizing when Cary asks him to do some dirty work -bail a girlfriend out of jail. After bailing Jilly (Tea Leoni) out, Eli reluctantly takes her to look for an important item that she has lost. The next day, while frantically trying to organize his charity benefit, a drug-addled Eli tries to piece together what he saw the night before and what it might mean.

"People I Know" is a hybrid political thriller and character study. As a political thriller it's interesting, but not thrilling enough. It spares no one in its revelation of the hypocrisy and abuse of power behind a New York Senate race. The indictment of the city's most prominent citizens, although obviously unrealistic, is unsettling enough to be interesting. The film's best scenes feature Richard Schiff being ruthless as eminent businessman Elliot Sharansky. Al Pacino's Eli Wurman doesn't fare so well. The film takes place over a period of only about 26 hours, during which Eli is unraveling, both emotionally and physically, all while organizing a benefit and getting caught up in political intrigues beyond his control. I wish the film had the urgency that the situation implies. Eli still has a salesman's pitch, but is drug-dependent and only intermittently lucid. This doesn't really work. It makes him difficult to watch and only passively involved in what's going on. It doesn't help that Pacino's Georgian accent is as inconsistent as his character's thought processes. "People I Know", like Eli, has some moments of clarity, but it needed to be a lot tighter.

The DVD: Bonus features include 2 deleted scenes, with commentary, and an audio commentary by director Dan Algrant and Gregory Mosher, who has nothing to do with the film. Mosher is a writer and director himself and must be a friend of Algrant's. This arrangement works better than I might expect. Mosher is able to point out elements of the film from the perspective of a viewer, which Algrant can then comment on. The commentary is about filming -the actors, make-up, wardrobe, anecdotes, etc.- not about the film's themes. It's a reasonably good commentary.

This 2002 film stars Al Pacino. Yes, that's right, All Pacino. Then how come I never heard about it until I saw a trailer on a DVD I recently rented? How come it didn't last in the theaters? I don't have an answer to that because I believe that if it had the right publicity it might have done better in the box office department.

Talking about publicity, it seems ironic but this is what the film is about. Al Pacino is cast as Eli Wurman, an aging New York publicist who is planning a fundraiser. It's for the kind of cause, however, that has seen its glory in the 1960s, and the cause seems old and tired, as does Eli. With the skill of a good makeup artist, Pacino looks dissipated. He has sagging jowls and dark bags under his eyes. But his voice is strong and, in spite of the fact that the character he portrays is constantly popping tremendous amounts of prescription drugs, his strong personality comes through. There's a frantic pace about this film, which includes politics, drugs and questionable ethics.

Kim Bassinger plays his sister-in-law who gives him a chance at another way of life. Tea Leoni plays a high-priced model who's hooked on every kind of drug imaginable and who's the girlfriend of a politician. Then there are the real life newscasters and personalities who all make their entrance to give the film it's gritty reality, such as former NY City Police chief William Bratton, TV host Regis Philbin, critic Rex Reed and newscaster Pat Kiernan to name just a few.

I liked the New York scene the film portrayed. I thought the acting was wonderful, especially Pacino. The story was fast-paced and held my interest. And I felt some real emotion for Pacino's character. Recommended.

The biggest accomplishment of "People I Know" is in capturing the crisis of the leftist/progressive movement in the US. It shows us how little it means anymore the principled against the option of a (political) career. The political left, by and large, has been institutionalized around few names and causes relevant today as name-dropping/historical material--see all references, spoken or visual, to the past scattered throughout the film.

Eli Wurman, Pacino's character, is a relic of a time past who still leverages a reputation, a decreasing circle of friends, and a Harvard law degree, to defend the weak--in today's version, the post-9/11 illegal immigrants. The problem, we find, is that people, at best, find his events as opportunities to advance their agendas rather than move towards a common goal. Wurman is spent, slow to come to terms with the 'new realities,' a cunning and quixotic mix of individual who ponders getting the job done with doing the right thing; interesting tensions, portrayed well by Pacino. Donnie Brasco comes to mind as another film-role where Pacino's character is weathered down.

Pacino's acting is just shy of excellent, while the supporting roles are inconsistent. Somehow, Kim Bassinger doesn't seem to fit the story very well; casting vs. screenplay problem. From the commentary option, we learn lots of tidbits, and about something that has come to plague lots of recent films: this film was turned rather quickly, without (enough) attention to details of interpretation or making. Such an approach is probably what leaves the attentive viewer with the feeling of everything goes or impromptu. Even actors such as Pacino and Bassinger cannot salvage such a production.

All in all, this is a great and timely portrayal of a tired activist movement--a must see for the aware citizen. As well, the viewer may do well by ignoring the racial apropos of some reviewers here.

Not sure when this movie came and went, it's fairly recent, but it's not half as bad as some vicious reviews suggest!

Even a casual observer would see through the screenplay; it may very well have been written with Pacino specifically in mind. He brandishes his characteristic fresh-off-a-cubbyhole look, eyes haggard face drawn and hair in a perpetual rooster-comb, growing increasingly haunted as a sleepless PR agent who spills gobs of buttered lies to keep himself in business and his clients out of trouble. Kim Basinger is adequate but uninspired in her accessory role.

Much of the self-important sobstory stuff may be grossly incredible but as a sharp jab at the prevailing strain of New York showbiz sentimentality, it's gruesome and on the nose. There's even a subplot involving a power struggle between a wealthy industrialist and a primping social-activist that calls to mind touches of Bonfire of the Vanities.

On the flipside, it does suffer from somewhat over-baked characterization. The chatty, even preachy script shrouds in a politically charged thriller what would have been a bare-bones character study; the result is not really all that charged but fiendishly insightful so it keeps us hooked. The final shot is so fascinating it made me forgive all the cracks that came before it.

Certainly a rental if you want to snuggle up with an offbeat but somewhat heavy theme.

I've been admiring Al Pacino for years, and though i must admit this film could had been better than it is... it's always an extraordinary lesson for us to go and see such an amazing actor playing like that!! in many scenes, the despear he gives us sounds like if he was playing his own life!!!
The character is not an actor here, (or should i say a "movie-star"??) but there is such an evidence between what he plays and what we can easily suppose he must endure as an actor too, that we are sometimes more than
deeply touched by this sudden broken voice he has....
It's difficult to me as a french to express very well what i exactally felt after that.... but it reminds me this famous sentence of Maria Rilke, that i heard it once Pacino used to like too: "Who speaks of triumph? Endure is everything"...

Al Pacino is a New York publicist Eli Wurman, who, you'll soon notice, has been in this business too long, perhaps. Haggard-looking, always popping pills in his mouth, Eli knows it's time for him to leave the city forever with his understanding love Victoria played by Kim Basinger, but not before his dream is realized -- one dinner party to unite the two powers of the city.

Al Pacino, one of the greatest actors of America, gives his strong performance again, and you also get good supporting players -- besides Baisinger, Ryan O'Neil, Tea Leoni, Richaed Shiff, Bill Nunn, MArk Webber, and Robert Klein. The camera is by Peter Deming ("Mulholland Drive"), and the film is executive produced by Robert Redford.

However, though "People I Know" presents some incisive moments revealing the insider knowledge of PR agents, and the complex politics of the city, the film does not reach the height I expect from this cast. Let me be honest here -- it was dull. The story is monotonous, not knowing what to do with the main character Eli, who just wanders in the streets. The director Daniel Algrant is content with showing the materials which themselves are good, but he does not know how to raise our interest in the people I actually want to know, but couldn't.

I know the word "low-key," and Al's performance is suitably so, but if you portray a man whose life is out of control, and who knows that, and who still wants to get back some dignity back to his life, you have to let this guy show some merits or sparkling moments to shine as a human. The film, however, only allows Eli to get drunk and roam, so this guy looks too disheveled to accomplish the honorable job he was trying to do. The conclusion of the dinner party scene is incredible, and I don't know why Kim Baisinger's character has to care him so much.

And there are also incredible things here -- there is a secret party in the fashion of "Eyes Wide Shut" for instance -- and the supprting players are mostly wasted; Ms. Baisnger's fans will find her role is too small, and you might miss beautiful Polina Porizkova if you blink.

Excuse me for my negative review, but I cannot stand watching these good actors in a badly made film. I respect the intention of the filmmakers, but I am not the only one who think, "If Sidney Lumet had helmed the film." We need his skills which must have made this film a much tighter and definitely better one.

"I like that about the movie," Pacino said, "There was an earlier draft in which the crime stuff was more in the foreground, but no, this isn't a crime movie, it's about Eli's personality. He has a key line: 'I just can't stop.' This is what he does. He knows people. He fixes things. He's got his causes. Maybe he's gay, but he's never explored that possibility. He just keeps moving."

Eli Wurman is an exhausted New York press agent, taking too many drugs. He is a man torn between compromise and idealism. It is a carefully-tuned performance, in which Eli descends into a long night of drugs and is finally so tired and confused he doesn't know if he has witnessed a murder, or not. Al Pacino plays Eli Wurman, and it a performance that is not over the top but not far from it. His one client, Ryan O'Neal, is caught in a big mess and it concerns a junked up minor actress, Jilli Hopper, played by Tea Leoni. He is not sure what he has seen after he escorts Jilli home- was it murder or was it not? His sister-in-law, Kim Basinger, is his one true defender and the one person who may love him. What a mess he is in. It seems everyone is after him. The dangerous client, the movie star, wants to pay Eli off ,and join a political party and he wants Elliott Sharansky, Richard Schiff to help him win a political seat. Eli needs to take charge of himself, can he do it? Can he get himself together to save things?

As one of the plots was critical about the mayor of New York, this film sat on the shelves for two years following the terrorist attacks on the USA of 9/11. We all remember that Mayor Giuliani was a hero. The film came out in late 2002. It has not made a splash. The film is disjointed at times. It is difficult to know where the film is heading. I couldn't quite like Pacino's character. I felt sorry for him, but it is not enough to carry to the film. Recommended. prisrob Feb. 06.

Upfront-This isn't Al Pacino's best ever role...indeed,it isn't even one of his best...The film,while choppy and toiling under a few plotline holes,nonetheless DOES have something to say...The fact that so many of the reviewers here have used the word"leftist" and/or the term "leftist conspiracy"when describing the story this film tells is instructional,and the fact that so many of these same reviewers scoff at the notion,or deride it ALONE make this a film worth looking at..
I have to wonder if,perhaps,there is a right-wing denial agenda at work in those who made it thier whole point to be critical of the alledged"left wing"bias they claim to detect in this movie?Sure,"People I Know"is fiction,and as such deserves only our critical review with regard to plotting(note the afore-mentioned holes in this department)acting(great to excellent for the most part,especially Pacino)and directing(acceptable,if somewhat pedestrian),but since so many of the reviewers here have made it such a point to nitpick a FICTIONAL "leftist"conspiracy that they see as being the whole point of this film,let me point out that,alas,in today's world the real evil comes,conspiratorially,from the right(and,let's be honest,hasn't it always?)...in a world in which a REAL right wing cabal,including both the president and the vice president can,among other things,SECRETLY involve us in an unnecessary war,while publicly lying in order to gain our support,can SECRETLY conspire with the fuel companies not only to keep us in that war but to deliver them massive profits at our expense,can SECRETLY conspire with extremist religious groups to defeat scientific truth,can SECRETLY establish and run prisons where captives are tortured into making bogus confessions,ect,ect,the desire to "expose"the FICTIONAL "leftist"paranoia alledgedly running throughout this film would be laughable except for the fact that these reviewers take it all so seriously...And,in the end,such reviews themselves become something of a right-wing conspiracy against truth,in that,in assaulting the crebibility of a FICTIONAL left-wing conspiracy they strive to divert our attentions away from all of those REAL LIFE everyday right-wing plots that have done so very much to destroy american prestige,and curtail the liberties guaranteed by the constitution and the bill of rights...Making a film about these right-wing plots,and the arrogance of those involved in them WOULD make a better,if a more frightening movie...

I will be short, this is movie is about drugs and knowing people. Al Pacino is a great actor. There are only like three lines in this movie: 1) Come to the palms 2) Blackout 3) Xanax and valium. Is the same bs going around and around; so many good actors for such a poor movie. Do not buy this!!