The Good German
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Movie Reviews of The Good German
Movie Review: Classic Hollywood Storytelling
Summary: 4 Stars
Steven Soderbergh's "The Good German", depending on your age and knowledge of film can either be seen as a daring, new experimental film shot in black & white or a tribute to classic war time Hollywood films of the 1940s, most noteably "Casablanca". I belong to the latter.
Capt. Jack Geismer (George Clooney) is an American journalist, who use to live in Berlin before the war. After the war he was giving a choice of being stationed either in London or Berlin. According to Geisman there was no choice. He knew he wanted to go back to Berlin to try and find his lost love Lena (Cate Blanchett) who may or may not have been involved with the Nazis.
Intrigue soon follows as Geisman's driver, Tully (Tobey Maguire) is found dead. He allegedly had information regarding a German scientist Emil Brandt. In order to thicken the plot a bit we find out Emil was married to Lena, and it was her really the killers were looking for. Tully was having an affair with Lena and promised to get her out of Berlin. This all takes place before Geisman finds out about Tully and Lena and wants to rekindle their faded flame.
To say more about the plot would be a mistake. I'd ruin the entire film for you. But I have to admit I think the visuals and the effect Soderbergh was going for is a bit more interesting to talk about then the plot itself. The movie was shot on actually camera equipment used in during the 40s. The film has such a crisp look to it, that if it were not for the strong language and graphic sexual content, this could have been one of the lost films of 1946 suddenly found. Soderbergh did his homework on this one. I'm not much of a fan of his work. I didn't enjoy titles such as "Full Frontal", "Kafka" or his "Ocean" movies (I haven't seen 13 yet) but I did like "Traffic" (which I think deserved the best picture Oscar over "Gladiator") and "Erin Brockovich". Here though Soderbergh must be given his due credit. The film is more than an imitation. It is compelling enough where it could stand on its own without the gimmick of the camera equipment.
But not just the look of the film captures the spirit of the times we have to give credit to Clooney and Blachett. I was never much of a Clooney fan but when I say "Good Night and Good Luck" I found a new respect for him and he is quite good in this film. He definitely recalls Bogart, though the part is a little different. Bogart was usually an outsider who didn't want to get involved. Remember his line in "Casablanca"? "I stick my neck out for no man." Here Clooney's character wants to get involved. It was the whole point of his journey.
Blanchett on the other hand I've always admired. She is one of the great actresses working today. If we want to compare this to "Casablanca" we could say she brings Ingrid Bergman to mind but for some reason I thought of Greta Garbo. That mysterious woman appeal that Garbo excelled at seems to be what Blanchett was going for.
A lot of people didn't seem to like this film. I came across mostly negative reviews from the critics and the public didn't seem to embrace it either. Why do I like it? I have no clue. I could just be the simple reason I like what Soderbergh was going for. I enjoy Hollywood films from the time period. Or it could be it was just a good movie. Maybe a combination of both. Either way "The Good German" is worth watching.
Bottom-line: Steven Soderbergh's tribute to classic Hollywood films of the 1940s does a great job of recreating the look and feel of the films from the era but the story is good enough to work on its own.
Movie Review: Not as good as Casablanca, but still a decent movie!
Summary: 4 Stars
SPOILER ALERT!!!
If you haven't already seen the film, The Good German, then don't read any further or some of the surprises that pop up in the movie will be ruined for you.
First, let me admit that the only reason I bought this DVD was because I hoped to see the ethereal Cate Blanchett either putting on a pair of nylons, or taking them off. After all, this is a movie that takes place in post-war Germany in 1945, and it is rated "R." Unfortunately, there were no stocking shots of Ms. Blanchett in the film, which was a huge disappointment to me, but I still enjoyed it to a large degree. It did take me most of the movie to finally realize why it was "R" rated and not "PG-13." If the F--- word is used more than once in a film, it automatically gets an "R" rating, and the F--- word was used several times, though once would've been more than enough. I have no idea why the director, Steven Soderbergh, decided to take an "R" rating for a few choice words that really made no difference in the quality of the movie. I personally think it would've been better to skip the F--- word and to see Ms. Blanchett in nylons. That would certainly have been more enjoyable.
The Good German centers on George Clooney's character, whose a newspaper reporter for the Army and is in Berlin to cover the Potsdam conference with Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin. He hasn't been in Berlin since before the war and doesn't recognize anything. His driver is Corporal Tobey Maguire, who also dabbles in the black market on the side to make some extra money. Maguire is seeing Cate Blanchett's character, whose a prostitute and agrees to help her get out of Germany and to the United States. The catch here is that the Russians and two separate departments in the Army are watching Blanchett, hoping that her SS Officer husband is still alive and that she'll eventually lead them to him. Some of the people want her husband dead, while others want him alive because of his knowledge. Tobey Maguire is killed off within the first third of the film for being too greedy. George Clooney is beat up several times throughout the film as he tries to find out more about Blancett and her supposedly deceased husband. Before the war, Blanchett worked for Clooney and had an affair with him. He's still in love with her. Because of his love, he offers to help her and her husband escape and nearly dies in the process.
The film, of course, is shot in black and white, and is modeled after the movies of the late thirties and forties. Soderbergh does an excellent job of capturing that time period and of shooting the film just like a forties' director would've done. The performances of all the actors are adequate for what they're doing. There's no Oscar caliber acting in this film, but the performers still do their part to carry the film along. I was a little confused at the end with all the information that's presented to Clooney's character about Blanchett and her husband and why everybody is after him, but up until that point I thought the movie was rather suspenseful and well done. It definitely held my interest. Is this a movie that I'd want to see a second time? No, but only because there's no stocking scene in it with Ms. Blanchett. Had that been in the film, I would watch it over and over again!
Movie Review: The Good German - A Step Back Into the Forties
Summary: 4 Stars
Recently, I have seen two films which have left audiences either being bored witless, or entranced, enjoying something different and intrigued by the plot. The Good Shepherd was a slow moving espionage drama, that dealt with lies,spies, and stealth,and The Good German is about survival,
lies, entrapment,desperation.
The Stephen Soderburgh directed "Good German" is a dark film both in dialogue and style - very reminscent of The Third Man, and the great Warner Bros film noirs of the 40's/50's.
Apparently he reverted back to using the same kind of cameras that were used in the forties,had the lighting changed to ensure the darkened look of the film replicated the look of the film noire - which built up the sense of danger and fear so essential to the background of a war torn Berlin.
The central female character, Lena Brandt (played with perfection by Cate Blanchet) is a woman who is widowed,was raped by the Russians,now working as a prostitute,who is desperate to get out of Berlin, but needs a man to protect her and pay her way out.
She becomes the mistress of Tully, a rather nasty,oportunistic and violent fellow who's "day job" is as an American Army motor pool driver. This is the first time I've seem Maguire playing a cad, but he inserts just the right amount of the "smilimg assassin" into his character.
I recall one chilling moment when he is driving Jake - an American journalist (George Clooney) in Berlin to cover the Potsdam conference.
Sully is bragging like a big shot about his his girlfriend, then he stops and says "You can have her for an hour if you like." That summed Tully's character up in one sentence, she was using him to get out of the country and he was using her for whatever took his fancy, knowing as he did that Lena was dependant on him for freedom and food,her very survival.
George Clooney's Jake (reminiscent of William Holden at his peak in this) is a former lover of Lena's and when Sully is murdered after crossing the border into the Russian Zone,he steps in to try and help her.
Lena proves to be not what she pretends to be - her survival instincts are such that during the war she cold bloodedly betrayed neighbours to the Gestapo - an act that comes back to haunt her.
She is shown as self absorbed and ruthless, using men for their power as she is powerless, prepared to do whatever is necessary to save herself.
All in all, it's a tale of shadows and intrigue,of people who have lost their souls and who are trying to come to terms with all that has happened to them.
The Good German is not a five star journey, but thanks largely to Blanchet's fine acting and Soderburgh's direction, the film is worth of 4.
Movie Review: A Black and White Movie with a Story that is Anything but Black and White
Summary: 4 Stars
Viewers are split on reaction to Steven Soderbergh's experimental THE GOOD GERMAN and for good reason. The theatrical and cinematic qualities of this film noir are stunning, creating not only a flashback to the 1940s films but to the period of the 1940s in postwar Europe. The story is rich in suspense, visual surprises, and intrigue, and manages to unfold a complex tale involving many characters in a manner that keeps the viewer guessing about the outcome until the final image fades. But the film takes a hefty does of patience to appreciate.
Potsdam conference, 1945 in decimated Berlin is the scene. Capt. Jacob 'Jake' Geismer (George Clooney) arrives to observe and report on the conference and is assigned a driver named Tully (Tobey Maguire), a fast talking, manipulative opportunist who loves post-war Berlin for the easy money it allows a doofus like him to make. Tully happens to have a lover, the mysterious Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett), who he is trying to assist in escaping from Germany. As luck would have it Lena had been a previous lover of Jake in his prior time in Berlin. The action begins when the Russians, the British, and the Americans reveal their attempt to locate rocket scientist Emil Brandt, Lena's husband who she declares has been long dead. A murder occurs, espionage takes over and the film runs its cat and mouse chase for the discovery of the real Emil Brandt and the secrets his capture represent at this crucial junction in time - the Potsdam Conference.
The characters in the film come close to being caricatures: Ravil Isyanov as the main Russian figure, Beau Bridges and Jack Thompson as the main American figures, Robin Weigert as the requisite good prostitute/stripper roommate of Lena, Tony Curran representing the British presence, and Don Pugsley as the German evil presence that ties the whole story together. Blanchett is her usual splendid self, adding a true sense of mystery and allure to her multifaceted role, George Clooney is on target as Jake, and Tobey Maguire manages to get on our nerves as the nerdy but clever Tully. The pleasure in this film comes from Soderbergh's mastery of the medium not only as director but as cinematographer, and by Thomas Newman's period perfect score as orchestrated by the immensely talented Thomas Pasatieri fleshes out the film's effect.
Knowing that public and critical reaction is split, the film is a good evening of adventure: every viewer will elect which side of the critique to follow. Grady Harp, May 07
Movie Review: They don't make 'em like that anymore . . . but they did this time
Summary: 4 Stars
In THE GOOD GERMAN, Steven Soderburgh does an amazingly good job of recreating the noir look, sound, and feel of Michael Curtiz's classic 1940s Warner Brothers productions such as Passage to Marseille, Now, Voyager, and Casablanca, so much so that I expected Madeleine LeBeau, Leonid Kinskey and Marcel Dalio to play the bit parts.
Shot in black and white with incandescent lighting, recorded with boom mikes, and using fixed focus lenses, Soderburgh makes this film an homage to the era of the wartime melodrama.
George Clooney plays Jake Geisman, a war correspondent returned to his prewar posting, Berlin, just as the Potsdam Conference gets under way in Berlin (July 1945). As is natural, Jake tries to reconnect with his Berlin past, only to find himself drawn into a murder mystery shaped and defined by the nascent Cold War. As Jake blunders from situation to situation trying to discover the truth, he loses his postwar innocence and optimism.
Along with others, Jake also gets into a lot of fights with a character I eventually dubbed "The Mysterious Man Who Hits People In The Head." Said Mysterious Man appears so often that I suggested changing the name of the film from "Der Gute Deutsch" to "Klop en Kopf."
Also starring Cate Blanchett as Jake's former lover, Lena Brandt ("Why are you throwing away women like that? Someday they may be rationed") and Tobey Maguire as an amoral American GI and black-marketeer, Sgt. Tully ("You do despise me Rick, don't you?"), the four-letter dialogue and frank sexual situations belie both the atmosphere and the straight-ahead Forties-style plot to indicate that this is a retrospective, not a re-creation.
So much of THE GOOD GERMAN samples films from the era that part of a cinemaphile's enjoyment of watching comes down to, "I saw that in . . ." This is particularly true of the ending, which will be instantly familiar but strangely unrecognizable.
THE GOOD GERMAN is highly recommended, particularly for adherents of the classic silver screen.