Closer (Superbit Edition)
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Movie Reviews of Closer (Superbit Edition)
Movie Review: Absolutely Brilliant Beyond Words!
Summary: 5 Stars
When I saw this film in theaters I was completely blown away with it. Before I even went to see it, I was impressed with the perfect casting of four actors whom I really enjoy watching on film: Julia Roberts (as Anna), Natalie Portman (as Alice), Jude Law (as Dan), and Clive Owen (as Larry). This one is really dialogue heavy in a way that pulls you in and never lets go. Among the four actors, I think Natalie Portman pretty much owns this picture and her recent Golden Globe was well deserved (I hope she repeats on Sunday by nabbing the Best Supporting Actress Oscar). The scenes of her in a private room of a strip club, bending her body in imaginative and seductive ways while still carrying on an intense and sexually charged conversation with Larry is an amazing scene for me. To watch this film and "Garden State", you will be convinced that Natalie Portman is the actress of her generation and will only grow from here.
Clive Owen is also great in this film and his character of Larry is the most conniving of the four. The movie works to a brilliant resolution, in which is wicked knowledge of Anna's psychology is used to set up a rival for his former flame's affections (Dan). Payback is a b...., as they say and well deserved in the case of pathetic Dan, who toys with people's emotions, pretending to be who he's not, especially in the Internet chatroom.
While some people might not find any of the characters sympathetic or like the idea that people in relationships lie to one another, but I find a lot of what happens in this film to be true to life, in my own observations of people. To live a completely honest life means one is going to be stepped on, taken advantaged of, and discarded when no longer convenient. This film should serve as a wake up call to anyone that it sometimes takes cunning to win at the game of love. The pathetic aspect of love is that no one wants to get hurt, yet too many don't see the hurt they cause in others. This film is a brilliant case example, with top notch performances across the board.
I'm shocked that one reviewer below called this film gay without the courage to state so at the end. That's one interpretation, though I suppose it reveals more about the reviewer than anything else. I certainly didn't get that impression from the film.
See this film and hopefully it will inspire you to be honest in your dealings with other people...especially the ones you love the most.
Movie Review: Julia speaks as never before
Summary: 5 Stars
From the trailers and the presence of Julia Roberts in the cast, I went into CLOSER expecting a light romantic comedy. (My preconceptions haven't been so shattered since I saw Bambi's mother get shot by hunters at the Saturday kiddie matinee!)
CLOSER opens as Alice (Natalie Portman), a New York stripper on a visit to London, is grazed by a car after she's looked left instead of right stepping off the curb. She's taken to the hospital by a stranger, Dan (Jude Law), a writer wannabe with whom she starts a live-in relationship. Then, Dan sits for a formal portrait by photographer Anna (Julia Roberts), on whom he unsuccessfully hits. Subsequently, Larry (Clive Owen), a dermatologist, meets Anna, whom he marries, then divorces after discovering that she's had recent sex with the once-spurned Dan. On the rebound and needing physical comfort, Larry seeks out Alice, now shucking clothes at a London strip club after having left Dan, and whom he'd previously met at one of Anna's photo exhibits. But Dan still pines for Alice and is emotionally devastated that she may have had sex with Larry. Is this messy, or what? (The timeline is murky; apparently all this happens over a couple of years.)
CLOSER is a film, painful to watch, of sexual manipulation, possession, and obsession in which the four principal characters inflict emotional cruelties on each other. It's not holiday fare for an afternoon out at the movies with your aged Mum. The language is sexually graphic and, in one sequence of scenes in the London strip joint, visually raunchy. CLOSER is, however, one of the best films of 2004. Julia Roberts is perhaps the biggest surprise as she shows that she can radically transcend - even beyond ERIN BROCKOVICH (2000) - her usual cute roles; I was mightily impressed.
It would be hard to pick this film's lead and supporting parts. All four (Portman, Law, Roberts, Owen) have about equal screen time (though I wasn't keeping track with a stopwatch). Any, or all, of them could garner an Oscar nomination.
I had begun to doze about a quarter of the way into the film, but then woke up almost with a start as I realized that CLOSER is an exceptional adult film, without visually explicit sex or violence, that brutally shows grown-ups in dysfunctional relationships behaving at their very worst. Truly, as is indicated by a line in KINSEY:
"Sex is a dangerous game. If you're not careful, it can cut you wide open."
Movie Review: GREAT GREAT GREAT... but some people did not get it...
Summary: 5 Stars
I liked this film very much.
The screenplay (adapted by the author of the original stageplay) is very well written. The story revolves around four people (you know who) who meet pretty much by chance (how modern...) and keep falling in and out of love with each other. Sounds simple? It is not. They cheat, they hurt, they lie, they cry... all between four people.
But to me, the most interesting thing about this screenplay is the way the passing of the time is shown. It is hard to explain... we follow small moments of each couple's life and... suddenly there are jumps forward where big chunks of story left unseen suddenly became past. Clever, simple and intelligent. Frankly I haven't seen a script like this in years.
Now the actors... oh, the actors... you can't get any better. Roberts, Law, Portman and Owen are simply top. Enough said?
Some people (in other reviews) seemed to feel bothered by the cruel/explicit language in this film (may I remind you this is rated R). According to them, people do not talk like this. Maybe not. But people tend to forget that this film is written like a game and a puzzle. Many times, the screenplay engages in word playing (something that comes from the original source of this material: the stage). In a way, the film kept some of the word puzzles (which is not how people talk). Strange: nobody complains when Shakespeare does that... (laughs)
On the other side, the screenplay clearly exaggerates some explicitness because in this operation lies many of the feelings we would not see had they done otherwise. The explicitness here may not be real... but the feelings are. And those dialogues shine because they go higher than reality.
So maybe 50% of the dialogues may be too explicit or may be different from the way people talk... so what? in this film I think it is clearly justified... because other more subtler things than reality are at play. In fact, there is a lot of reality here that is put aside for (let's call it) poetic reasons... so the story can get to a certain point... so this character can end up this way... (think about the role coincidence plays here... think about all the things that would and could never happen in real life...) You really have to understand in order to enjoy.
You don't really get this movie if you don't understand why the writer did what he did. And to me, the whole text is beautiful.
A gem.
Movie Review: Best Relationship Movie Ever?
Summary: 5 Stars
I have so many bitter and wonderful memories about this movie. This movie is about understanding our desires in relationships. I read a few reviews saying there were no likable characters in this film, and while I don't think there are any cookie cutter good guys, I don't think that is true.
Spoilers
The movie starts with a romance between Jude Law and Natlie Portman. Its almost purely physical it seems, and after a while because of the lack of tension he finds attraction with Julia Roberts. Because he can't have Julia, because she doesn't want to cheat on Natalie, Jude pretends to be her on a sex chat with Clive Owen, in what may be the performance of his career. He wants to have control over her since he can't exert that in a relationship. He is not being honest with his partner. Taking away control from her for selfish reasons. Julia and Clive really do fall in love and get married, and eventually she runs accross Jude again. They begin an affair and fall in love each dumping their partners. In order to get the divorce from Clive, Julia sleeps with him, and Jude dumps her because he can't take the knowledge and the control taken away from him. Jude eventually wisens up and goes back to face Clive, who tells him there is no way he is getting Julia back, but he knows where Natalie is and he should go back there. But before Jude leaves, he has to exert control, and tells him the reason he knows where she is, is because he slept with her after Julia dumped him. Jude and Natalie get back together, but Natalie denies sleeping with Clive. Time passes and Jude begs for the truth because it is eating him up, and Natalie admits to it, before breaking up with him. That was her control in the relationship, and having to give that up again is too painful, and she leaves. It is revealed ingeniously that she had more control that thought because she did love him, and she had to protect herself, where as she did not with Clive because it was just sex. its about protecting our emotions in an oversexed world. A lot of people don't like Clive and Natalie because they had sex, but they were both single and consenting adults, but Natalie is pure enough to get away. Its about honesty and power games in relationships, and how vulnerable we are willing to be. How well we know people, and how we are different people with different people because we are never ourselves with them. Great film
Movie Review: Essential
Summary: 5 Stars
Adapted by Patrick Marber from his own play, generally recognised to be both one of the greatest plays of recent years and one of the most (linguistically) explicit plays ever written, Closer is a superbly dark relationship-based drama. The film version is understatedly but beautifully and sensitively shot with little fanfare and close fidelity to the original text. Like the play, other four characters have any lines, and a superb cast has been assembled to portray them on-screen, with Jude Law, Clive Owen, Natalie Portman and Julia Roberts all turning in astounding, interesting and mould-breaking performances. Every detail of the film is intelligent, subtle and keenly observed and the story is drawn brilliantly. The backdrop is London, and on this backdrop occurs an intense world of pain and betrayal. As an exposition of the negative consequences of strong and intense love, Closer is perfection.
There is an elegance to the mood of the film - even the violentt arguments have a beauty to them that is artistic and poetic. There is also frequent black humour. The film is never infected by over-dramatising or straying a million miles from reality. Instead, it rings true on love, sex and the essence of humanity. The exploration of the power dynamics of relationships is superb: usually only 2 characters converse at once, and one usually has power over the other. To see Larry (Owen) begging on his knees in a state of psychological desperation in the extraordinarily sinister scene in the strip club, where Portman's acting is also phenomenal, deep and somewhat terrifying, and then the next moment totally wrapping Dan (Law) around his finger and twisting him into breakdown in a form of psychological warfare is profoundly affecting. Ultimately, Closer is a triumph because of not only its incredibly potent script but the simply incredible acting performances. Only Roberts is less than utterly enthralling, and even she pushes the correct buttons with her character - it simply isn't as deep or unusual compared to typical film characters as the other parts are.
This film is simply exquisite, and the execution is faultless. 2005 may only be a couple of weeks old, but we already have a bid for film of the year. Like absolutely nothing else you will see any time soon. Essential.