Leelee Sobieski Movie:

Editorial Review:
The dark connections between art, desire, and evil fuel Max, an alternate-history fantasy that imagines what might have happened if a Jewish art dealer named Max Rothman (John Cusack, High Fidelity) had befriended Adolf Hitler (Noah Taylor, Shine) when he was a frustrated artist, before he turned to politics to vent his hatred. Some critics have expressed fear that even to attempt to make Hitler understandable is to diffuse or dismiss his malignancy; but watching Hitler vacillate between Rothman's attempts at mentorship and the encouragement of an ambitious military officer demonstrates the pettiness, desperation, and craven need that can bring horror into the world. Cusack portrays a generous man with simple decency and not a trace of grandstanding, but Taylor--with glittering eyes and lips twisted with bile--is both fascinating and repellent in an impressive performance. An intelligent and complex film, Max deserves to find an audience. --Bret Fetzer

Max [Region 2] Reviews:
Another Gem from Cusack
2009-10-30 - (Well, I'm not gonna write a treatise on politics and social philosophy, as some seem to have done. :-/ This is, after all, a film review.)


As usual, Cusack is excellent. His smooth yet flawed, good-natured but jaded, crippled upper-class war veteran is a perfect metaphor for all of the non-Nazis who lived in Germany between the wars... as well as a larger reference to the "good Germans" in any society who reject, yet dangerously ignore, the tide of racial and social hatred.

I suppose it's a matter of taste, but I can't see why some people rag on Taylor for his portrayal of the young Hitler. I mean, c'mon-- how would YOU play a somewhat talented, myopic and twisted loser who ultimately became one of the worst monsters of all time? Over-acted?? Hey, what IS a political demagogue, if not the perfect example of "over-acting gone wild"? Only those who were actually there will ever know what Hitler was really like... and they're pretty much all dead. I think Taylor's interpretation is quite good-- appropriately pathetic, driven, confused, seethingly bitter, and at the complete mercy of happenstance.

Anyway, the point of the film (hence, it's title) is the art dealer, Max, and his quandary of how to encourage the talent of a twisted youth-- in whom he sees some real possibility, and for whom he shares a war veteran's common sympathy-- without unduly disturbing his own adventurous and bourgeois lifestyle, or possibly risking wasted time & effort on yet another artistic wannabe. It's as much a film about the art marketing world-- with all it's pretense, glamour, and quirks-- as it is about politics.

It's a testament to the skill of the filmmakers that you'll find yourself hoping, wishing, longing for Max to succeed in his attempts to turn Hitler's seething energy toward a successful approach to painting... even though you know that he never will.


Caricature That Lacks Credibility
2009-09-23 - After watching this movie I was left wondering who the monster was---Hitler-the-failed-artist-misfit or the effete hoity-toity bourgeois art community that was depicted. If the point of the flick was simple character assassination of Adolf, then it fails by presenting him in such caricature as to be hardly recognizable. The producers of this movie should have read The Young Hitler I Knew by August Kubizek, or even Hitler In Vienna 1907-1913 by J. Sidney Jones to flesh out AH's character with some reality. Instead they create a straw man, buffoon, fool, an utterly untalented artist loser who desperately seeks approval. Of course, such a one could never have risen to the dizzying heights of power that his real counterpart did. Except for the tirades and the hair, and of course the later speeches, one would hardly know who was being portrayed. It would have been far more effective had they sought to present a realistic study of Hitler the young bohemian postcard painter (a period of his life that predates the one falteringly portrayed in the film), showing his early fanaticism and unflinching determination. But that would have been much harder to pull off without the risk of appearing sympathetic. Instead, it takes the lazy route and goes for stock moralization and easy answers.

Of course I realize that this is fiction, but when using actual historical characters one should take pains to present them true to life, and not be tempted to rewrite history. Or else why use them at all?

This movie could have been an interesting study of contrasts, of art versus politics, of art as politics, and is not a total failure in that regard. As an idea it had promise, and is worth seeing once, but it fell far short of what it could have been.

Not a painter after all
2009-01-17 - Its interesting to see the Hitler character face the reality that he is not, actually, an artist. You see the suffering when his long held and cherished view of himself gets dashed. In real life Hitler had artistic talent, but not what it takes to make a career out of art. Its interesting to see how the movie portrays his other pet project: politics. But the movie doesnt dare show the true strength of Hitler in this area. Instead they make it seem like his ability to speak and move crowds is a fluke and cartoonish and based only on repeating slogans. In actuality Hitler had a true genius with the spoken word.. a talent that unfortunately found its outlet and audience in the social chaos following WWI. I think this movie does a decent job with a unique idea, and shows the early Hitler in an appropriately unflattering light. The single moment where the film captures a speck of Hitlers true sincerity in speaking is when he oddly but effectively shouts the words 'Deutchlander' over and over again in the noisy beerhall scene / speech. We should all be so lucky in life that we find our authentic voice in the world.

Great movie
2008-10-07 - Art plus politics equals power. Right on. John Cusack was incredible in this movie. That was a really great movie. I love it. I watch it all the time.

Quite extraordinary
2008-08-07 - You don't see movies like this every day. A daring Hitler fantasy. Kudos for the intelligent script, though I don't know how long this one survived in theaters. It's not for everyone. I couldn't help chuckling a bit at first every time John Cusack addressed his co-star as "Hitler," as if no one had ever heard the name before, which is what this movie is all about. See it if you like off-beat films that go places where Hollywood usually won't.