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movie review - True Memoirs of an International Assassin

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

This is the tale of a novelist who writes spy thrillers. His new agent makes the claim that his work is based on reality and whoopsie, some of it was. But now the novelist himself is kidnapped by gangsters who believe he's responsible for several killings in their organization. It turns out that the novelist was working with the agent who actually performed the assassinations and wasn't himself the killer and now the novelist is in over his head.

Well, but not entirely. Some assistance turns up in the form of an actual agent with a score to settle, and his own research into the spy game allows him to do a few things. Soon the novelist is walking a line, playing off gangsters and revolutionaries and US-backed figure-head politicians. Violence is inescapable, and someone's always threatening him.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well the whole thing worked, it was substantially better than I expected.

Recommended. For those nights when you need a breather.