movie a day #263: closer

[jenna2891]

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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Four extremely beautiful people do extremely horrible things to one another in Closer, Mike Nichols' pungent adaptation of Patrick Marber's play that easily marks the Oscar-winning director's best work in years. Anna (Julia Roberts) is a photographer who specializes in portraits of strangers; Dan (Jude Law) is an obituary writer struggling to become a novelist; Alice (Natalie Portman) is an American stripper freshly arrived in London after a bad relationship; and Larry (Clive Owen) is a dermatologist who finds love under the most unlikely of circumstances. When their paths cross it's a dizzying supernova of emotions, as Nichols and Marber adroitly construct various scenes out of their lives that pair them again and again in various permutations of passion, heartbreak, anger, sadness, vengeance, pleading, deception, and most importantly, brutal honesty. It's only until you're more than halfway through the movie that you'll have to ask yourself exactly why you are watching such a beautifully tragic tale, as Closer is basically the ickiest, grossest, most dysfunctional parts of all your past relationships strung together into one movie. Ultimately, it falls to the four actors to draw you deeper into the story; all succeed relatively, but it's Law and Owen whose characters will cut you to the quick. Law proves that yet again he's most adept at playing charming, amoral bastards with manipulative streaks, and Owen is nothing short of brilliant as the character most turned on by the energy inherent in destructive relationships--whether he's on the giving or receiving end. --Mark Englehart

this review about sums it up. after the first time i saw this movie, i thought i hated it. but then, within a few days, i felt i needed to watch it again, and after second viewing i thought i loved it. i've seen it five times now, and i still go back and forth between loving and hating it. i think it's a reaction to watching something so beautiful that is at the same time so ugly, but never hides either. in the end, though, i know i admire it.

 

[jf-08]

My wife and I really loved this movie too.

Julia Roberts is awesome in this.

I'm not much of a Portman fan, but she did a good job too.

It's a very surreal movie. It has a depression and gloomy feeling about it.

For some reason, the way it moved and general feeling I got from it reminded me of "Less Than Zero."

 

[jenna2891]

i'm not much of a julia roberts fan, but i love natalie portman. i really love clive owen.

(sidenote: see "the croupier," starring clive owen, if you haven't yet)

 

[Chaplin]

i'm not much of a julia roberts fan, but i love natalie portman. i really love clive owen.

(sidenote: see "the croupier," starring clive owen, if you haven't yet)

Not to nitpick, but it is actually "Croupier" without the "the"...

I also really like Clive Owen, definitely my top pick for the new Bond. Too bad he probably won't do it.

 

[D-Dogg]

I really liked this movie...fantastic acting. I don't know what people's knock on Portman is, other than they are disappointed in her being Luke's mommy. She's terrific in Garden State and also in this movie.

Again, another solid pick by Jenna.

 

[jenna2891]

Not to nitpick, but it is actually "Croupier" without the "the"...

I also really like Clive Owen, definitely my top pick for the new Bond. Too bad he probably won't do it.

no, thanks for the nitpicking. i appreciate it, because i'm usually the one doing the nitpicking! but yeah, whatever the movie's called, clive owen is unbelievably cool.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Finally watched this one a couple of weeks ago as a favor for my wife. I liked the fact that it was not a traditional hollywood movie.

4 out of 5.

 

[Stout]

I also really like Clive Owen, definitely my top pick for the new Bond. Too bad he probably won't do it.

No doubt! I think he really could bring the edge that the role has been missing, though Brosnan did a good job with that in the last one. Bond ISN'T this perfect spy who always smells like roses. He's jaded, gets beat the hell up and damn near killed in every book. I hope they play more to that.

 

[Pariah]

Pretty good movie. I thought Roberts' acting was just okay (and I'm a fan), but Clive Owen was spectacular.

What I liked most about it was the way it played with time (and Owen seems to have even made a reference to it when he gets back from his business trip: "Time. What a slippery ******." Or something like that). You never really knew how much time had passed between different scenes.

Also, did you notice that there were no other characters besides the main four? That's unusual for a movie...more like a play.

 

[Renz]

I didn't find the characters believable or likable.

 

[jenna2891]

Pretty good movie. I thought Roberts' acting was just okay (and I'm a fan), but Clive Owen was spectacular.

What I liked most about it was the way it played with time (and Owen seems to have even made a reference to it when he gets back from his business trip: "Time. What a slippery ******." Or something like that). You never really knew how much time had passed between different scenes.

Also, did you notice that there were no other characters besides the main four? That's unusual for a movie...more like a play.

yeah, clive owen rocks. the first time i saw it, i had this feeling when jude and natalie first meet, that they really knew each other, and were kind of playing like they were strangers. and good call on the time. it was very surreal feeling, never really knowing the characters, except in key moments. also, it was originally a play.

 

[Ryanwb]