Professional, The
For a long time whenever people asked me what my favourite film was I would tell them it was The Professional. I love the film, absolutely love it, but it was more about just having an answer to that question than it was the truth. Truth is I never have been able to pick one film to laud above all others. I can say Citizen Kane is the greatest film ever made – technically and artistically – but I would sometimes rather watch Dead Man On Campus or Office Space for the two hundredth time than Welles' masterpiece. I just don't have my own Harold and Maude or King Kong to claim as my most favouritest piece of cinema ever.
So why say The Professional (or Léon, as my our international guests would know it as)? Gary Oldman is sensational in a showy role of tics and idiosyncrasies that quite easily could have gone wrong. The relationship between Leon and Mathilda is an endearing and charming one, and even when the film addresses its very inappropriateness, it never feels seedy or paedophilic. Jean Reno is the coolest hit-man of all time, yet is also just a big goofy dork that loves milk, his pot plant, and Gene Kelly movies. Luc Besson's direction is brilliant throughout, refining the already excellently staged assassinations sequences he first showed us in La Femme Nikita, and just as masterfully handling the more intimate character scenes. It is the best work he has ever done, and I don't see him ever matching or beating it (especially if he keeps making film likes The Messenger: Joan Of Arc . Sorry Luc, but what a pretentious mess).
I love every little thing about this film, and while it might not truly be my most favourite film in the world, it certainly is one I consider a privilege to lie to others when saying that it is. It just beats umming and ahhhing and sounding like the movie dork that I am by eventually admitting “Oh, I really can't choose just one. Can I give you a top 40?”. No one wants to talk to that guy at a party. I don't want to talk to that guy at a party.