Searching for Charlie

When director Jonathan Demme gets ahold of the sixties thriller Charade, a plotline with more twists than a pretzel factory is the result.

Mark Wahlberg, Thandie Newton and Tim Robbins lead the cast of French new wave film icons through a story of espionage, betrayal and lust in The Truth About Charlie.

With a rainy Paris backdrop, Newton plays the title character’s widow who becomes involved in a diamond-theft conspiracy.

After learning that her husband has swindled several people out of millions of dollars, she is unsure whom to trust.

Newton’s character is torn between Wahlberg (the handsome stranger she met in the Caribbean), Robbins (a U. S. government official), the French investigators and the aggressive trio who want their money back.

Wahlberg plays his staple-role of sensitive stud. His character’s unwavering concern for Newton borders on sappy, especially when she discovers him bleeding at the head and tearing up a mattress with a pocketknife.

Even with all of the glitches in his identity, she can’t tear herself away from him. But with a stud like Wahlberg, who could blame her?

The cinematography sang “indie film” with all of its non-mainstream camera action. It was full of spinning pans, grainy flashbacks and quick cuts.

Some scenes were so unsteady that they looked like they were shot with a handheld camcorder. But all of it together reminds the viewer that moviemaking really is an art.

The story neatly ties up loose ends in less than two hours. Not much else can be told without giving away the whole movie, but here’s a hint: the movie poster is extremely appropriate.