Closer (DVD)

Closer is the pain filled story of four attractive adults living in London and how their lives become connected through strands of love, hate, passion and revenge. Danny and Alice meet serendipitously when he help her to the hospital after she is hit by a taxi (yet miraculously she stays unharmed) she is flighty, from New York and free, he is smart, a journalist and slightly dull. What ensues is a whirl wind relationship between them, but when Dan ...
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Closer is one of the oddest movies that I have ever seen, not because its premise is wacky or anything about the production is particularly strange, but because the film is void of anything nice, there truly isn't any heart or warmth and all the main characters are achingly mean and frustrating. Yet I was instantly drawn into its stark world hooked onto every beautiful word daring it to shock me, but I don't think I really enjoyed ... more

Closer is the pain filled story of four attractive adults living in London and how their lives become connected through strands of love, hate, passion and revenge. Danny and Alice meet serendipitously when he help her to the hospital after she is hit by a taxi (yet miraculously she stays unharmed) she is flighty, from New York and free, he is smart, a journalist and slightly dull. What ensues is a whirl wind relationship between them, but when Dan is having his photo taken for the cover of his new book he kisses Anna the photographer, she forgets about him and moves on. Unfortunately when Dan is messing about on a sex chat room he tells a suave doctor, Larry to meet him under the alias of Anna. What luck that when Larry turns up, the real Anna is there! At one of Anna's art exhibitions she meets up with the still together Alice and Dan, but is there still a spark between her and the writer, is Larry looking Alice up? What follows are cruel mind games, wife swaps, lies and deceit.

Closer is one of the oddest movies that I have ever seen, not because its premise is wacky or anything about the production is particularly strange, but because the film is void of anything nice, there truly isn't any heart or warmth and all the main characters are achingly mean and frustrating. Yet I was instantly drawn into its stark world hooked onto every beautiful word daring it to shock me, but I don't think I really enjoyed the experience. Can you love a film and not like it? This is the difficult question that I have to ask myself, and after watching Closer I can answer in the affirmative. Yes, yes you can, but why? Well because the script is stark, humorous, involving, subtle and fluid the direction from Mike Nichols is masterful and most of the cast are truly wonderful. Don't go into Closer expecting a film about love or compassion because you will be deeply disappointed and probably shocked, this films examines pain, grief and indecision like no other but never ever becomes over the top. Everyone has agendas that are revealed. Games they want to play and hearts they want to break, but don't knock it until you've tasted its sweet viciousness.

Julia Roberts puts in -without doubt in my mind- a career best performance, which makes me wonder why she received the least amount of critical acclaim, is it because she had the least developed character?. Roberts literally blew me away with her breathtaking easiness and willingness to dedicate to her -sometimes unflattering- role; I felt like she knew her character perfectly and understood her motives, strengths and weaknesses. It is -sadly- blatantly obvious that she was stuck with the worst role in the whole film it is confused and slightly boring, but Julia inserts a strong emotional core that makes you want to invest n her characters journey, never failing to engage this portrayal shows just why she has garnered so many fans and critical praise, she looks stunning and really brews a brilliant chemistry with all her co-stars. What she manages to do is effectively execute the immense grief that Anna is going through without become over the top with the emotion, she understands subtlety like few others do and really shone with easy professionalism. In my opinion the very best performance of the whole piece, I think it helped make the film a contempory mini masterpiece.

Clive Owen is the biggest shock in Closer, after seeing him first in King Arthur -which I walked out of in the end, so, so boring, horrendously…. Anyway- I really wasn't expecting all that much, but by god can he act. Larry is one of the meanest, most truly despicable characters in recent movie history, but Owen lift the character higher, you almost feel for him, but then he pulls the rug from under you and you hate him all over again, this is part the scripts cunning sly and part Clive's on the ball performance. His execution of each scene is near on exceptional and by the end I was really hooked, interested in everything that he had to say, because even though he was horrendous all the way through I was fascinated by all the layers of emotion that he adds into the role. Unlike Law he stays true to his mean spirited character and has a wonderful screen presence. Some of his scene's -especially one with Roberts- are truly classic and the chemistry between those two is at times electrifying. Owen adds morals to somebody without any and has a lot of talent, surprised me a lot.

No matter how hard I try I can never find anything to fault the stunning Natalie Portman, she is simply alight with humanity and sparkles in everything she does. I was first introduced to her in the brilliant Beautiful Girls and was just blown away with how mature and well observed her performance was, then I watched Garden State and just fell in love with her there and then. I am very pleased to announce that she hasn't lost any of the sparkle that she has in those two movies and handles her role perfectly, never looking either naïve nor smug. She just shines with humanity and perfectly understands the script, she understands the many sides of her character and plays them all to her advantage. Some of her more emotional scenes -usually with Jude Law- are overwhelmingly accurate, resonant and effecting. She never shies away from the gritty side of her wonderfully developed character, but for some reason you still end up loving her beyond belief. A wonderful stunning performance, Portman deserves all the great scripts she can get, because she truly has earned it.

The only performance that I did not enjoy whatsoever was that of Jude Laws -officially the most over exposed celebrity of the year 2004, how many films was he in that year?- he literally made me cringe with his portrayal of Danny. Law didn't seem to possess the capacity of evil that the character demanded, so in the end he came off really rather pathetic, I don't think that he actually understood Danny and so turned him into a woefully boring and quite frankly silly person that I doubt anyone will either hate or sympathies with. In trying to draw the audience into his -much more often than necessary- emotional scenes he becomes rather obvious in his execution and in turn rubbishes the scripts quiet subtlety that hides under all the over blown aggression. Unlike Roberts he didn't understand what the audience wanted from him, I personally didn't want a quivering mess, I wanted to feel as if I knew this person but sadly I couldn't because Law distanced himself , by the final frame I felt that he has disassociated himself from his character. You really don't feel as if you want to invest in him so you aren't rewarded by the final outcome of Danny's journey. Very over blown and terribly self indulgent I just couldn't connect with his character.

I have never really been a fan of Mike Nichols work, I respected Who Afraid Of Virginia Woolf ? but that the only one I would watch again, they are all too cold, so is Closer but oddly this is one of its biggest advantages. Nichols adds this strange almost dream like quality to the production that allows it to become mesmerizing, his direction is masterful and he really allows the film to have a distinct voice, he uses deadly effective emotional triggers and crafts a slick, emotive film. Nichols is clever he allows his characters be vicious and mean, but never unrealistically so, he allows the audience to feel a little bit of sympathy for his four leaders but then proceeds in swiftly making you hate them again. You are always at limbo which can make this quite taxing both mentally and emotionally but if you are willing to stick with Nichols wonderful weaving of times and emotions then you will no doubt take something from the film.

Setting Closer in London with the lofty art lofts and blank colors was a well observed and intelligent decision, all the sets convey their own emotions -whether it be the pain of Anna or regal self indulgence that Dan exudes- but never takes attention off of the four main actors. There is a real sense of atmosphere and color filters are used to perfect effect to enhance the scenes, the color palette consists of largely grays and blacks which add a strange reserved quality to the piece, the production designers exercise complete self control sticking to a common film throughout which adds a nice sense of continuity even though the film is all over the place. Visually the camera work is smooth and glossy, but it isn't particularly interesting, sometimes I felt quite claustrophobic as I watched because it is all rather enclosed, which again aids you in connecting with the characters.

I had to watch Closer twice before I understood it, the script merrily plays around with time, whenever it gets bored or starts to flounder it just switches location and time scale, it has no concept of structure and really is quite shabby, but brilliant never the less. A lot of people have complained about the frequent swearing but personally I didn't find it offensive, I actually thought it enhanced the film. The screenplay is adapted from Patrick Marbers hit play and the translation works well, it becomes more approachable without losing any of it poignancy and remains truly thought provoking. All the characters -with perhaps the exception of Anna- are all beautifully developed and fairly realistic and all the situations are well observed. Many reviews have labeled closer as realistic, but I don't think it is, but I don't think the script wants it to be. It is realistic in the sense that all the characters don't live happily ever after and the emotions feel very real, but really it examines humans and how their relationships and personalities change when they are put in out of the ordinary situations, it isn't realistic because these things wouldn't happen to four people but if they did I think it is dead on and very accurate. Patrick Marber also wrote the screen play and he weaves a fascinating, absorbing and thoroughly engaging insight into human behavior, it puts a microscope up to ordinary people and see how they interact with others. Always interesting and deeply intelligent.

Overall Closer is a stunningly original piece of film making that has a message, some absolutely mind blowing performances and a truly intelligent screenplay. It may not always be easy to watch, but if you can stick with it, you will be rewarded with a subtle but thought provoking finale and you will be left talking/thinking about the production long after the final credits roll. It is not your usual romantic comedy, but the drama is accessible and is one of the most mature, fascinating and engrossing films I have seen in a long while, one of Hollywood's most sparkling contempory classics.

I only got the rental copy of Closer, which didn't include any special features.

You Can Buy Closer from Amazon.co.uk For £11.99 B0007Q6S1M

Larry: I'll pay you.
Alice: I don't need your money.
Larry: You have my money.
Alice: Thank you.

Larry: I'm Larry, the doctor.
Anna: Hello, doctor Larry.
Larry: Feel free to call me The Sultan.

Dan: Didn't fancy my sandwiches?
Alice: Don't eat fish.
Dan: Why not?
Alice: Fish piss in the sea.
Dan: So do children.
Alice: Don't eat children either.

Thank You all for reading and Hopefully rating, as always it is truly appreciated. : ) Jay
 

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