Movie of the Moment is…

Closer, a film by Mike Nichols.

I’ve probably watched it five times in the past seven days, and I can’t get tired of it. It’s the type of movie I enjoy sharing with folks because it stimulates a deep conversation. I understand it is a very polarizing movie, and I attribute this to several things.

1) There are edits where you have to piece together from the dialog that time has moved forward a few months or even a year, and that the characters have changed in some fundamental way. I think that most movies spoon-feed us the plot, but this is more like a play in that between “acts” there can be a lot of implied activity.

2) None of the characters are heroic. I’d say the closest to a protagonist you can cheer for in this movie is Larry (played by Clive Owen), and he’s not exactly a pillar of the community or a mountain of respectability.

3) All the scenes of Natalie Portman in the buff were cut after a lot of hoopla about them. No, they did not make it on to the extras on the DVD either. (I checked, like any red-blooded male would. Nope. Maybe there’s an Easter Egg of some kind where said scene can be found, but I am sure a lot of (disappointed) folks were looking for nudify and never got a chance to appreciate a good plot.

Definitely worth a rental (at the minimum). It’s like watching a slow-motion car wreck of four people in relationships with each other, and while at points the plot may appear simplistic, the writing keeps it from becoming trite. Natalie Portman and Clive Owen put in some amazing performances, and I’d argue that Jude Law does a sublime turn as the naive and manipulative Danny, who can alwasy be the seduce a woman, but can’t quite find it in his heart to forgive…

Two enthusiastic thumbs up, and I think there isn’t a man alive who won’t laugh hysterically at Clive Owen’s one-upsmanship of Jude Law during their confrontation in his office when he delivers lines like daggers. There’s a smoothness and a perfection to how he breaks him down that is uniquely male.

15 May 2005 | DVD, Movies | Comments