NEW MOVIE PREVIEW: Pu-239

By Norm Schrager at November 17, 2007 | 12:08 am | Print

You’re soon going to die from exposure to radiation. And your family desperately needs cash. Would you sell plutonium to strangers to provide for loved ones before you die? That’s the premise for the mysteriously named Pu-239, premiering on HBO Saturday night.

REVIEW UPDATE: Just finished seeing this one, a few hours before its premiere. A tragic story, presented without trying to be obviously “powerful”. Instead, the content and strong acting speak for the movie. At its most interesting, Pu-239 illustrates that greed has no winners, especially in a situation as volatile as 1990s Russia — a location about as chaotic and dangerous as the title substance. Ultimately, it’s really a symbolic comment against nuclear power. **** (4 out of 5)

THE PLOT
Set in an ever-changing Russia in 1995, Pu-239 follows the parallel lives of two men. The first is Timofey (Paddy Considine), the patsy of a nuclear power plant accident that will soon kill him. The second is Shiv (Oscar Isaac), a tough guy with big dreams of being a Russian mobster as Moscow dives headfirst into opulent capitalism. When Timofey decides to sell weapons grade plutonium to Shiv, their lives change and intertwine.

THE CAST
:: Paddy Considine, the sad-eyed British actor who did double-duty this summer in Hot Fuzz and The Bourne Ultimatum. He’s probably best known for playing the father in Jim Sheridan’s In America.

:: Oscar Isaac, a 27-year-old actor with Juilliard chops and a short film resume. He starred as Joseph in this year’s The Nativity Story, and will be in Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming Che Guevara film Guerilla (Benicio Del Toro plays Che, by the way).

:: Radha Mitchell, the Australian-born blond first seen by most American audiences in Pitch Black. Since then, she’s appeared in Man on Fire, Melinda and Melinda and Silent Hill — a wide variety of choices and genres. This year, she’s been filming another movie about the Russian mob, The Code, with Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas.

THE DIRECTOR
Scott Z. Burns, who co-wrote the screenplay for The Bourne Ultimatum. He’s referred to Pu-239 as a combination of dark comedy and tearful drama.

Burns also co-produced the Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Truth, and is scheduled to write The Informant for Soderbergh (who co-exec-produced Pu-239 with George Clooney… notice a trend here?). Oh and here’s another connection: Matt Damon is set to star in The Informant.

EXTRAS
What is Pu-239: It’s one of three isotopes used to produce nuclear power — or nuclear weapons. According to HBO notes, it has a half-life of over 24,000 years. Just like a Twinkie.

Pu-239 is based on a short story, and the film was originally — and cleverly — called The Half Life of Timofey Berezin.

First airing on HBO is Saturday night at 8pm.

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