Closer --- a crazy but honest look on modern relationships

Title:
Closer (B+)
PH Release Date:
April 6, 2004
Actors:
Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen
Director:
Mike Nichols
Story and Screenplay:
Based on the play by Patrick Marber
Editors:
John Bloom & Antonia Van Drimellen
Design / Photography:
Tim Hatley / Stephen Goldblatt
Producer:
Mike Nichols et al.
Studio:
Columbia Pictures



“If you believe in love at first sight, you never stop looking.”

Interesting thought, but it actually makes sense. The same goes with the movie. Some said that this movie came as a disappointment from the previous works of Mike Nichols (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Carnal Knowledge) especially since this is his first release after the much-acclaimed Angels in America, which I am yet to see and if HBO won’t show it this summer I’ll be compelled to make that guilt-bound trip to the no-Hook pirates. I have no right to compare any of his works from this movie because I have not seen any of them.

Based on what I saw (dah! in this movie), he’s definitely the type who loves to take time in developing his characters. He divulges in every aspect of the people within his movie. He does it pretty well and he makes directing seem so easy, especially in the beginning of the movie.

The film is written by the same author of the play it was based from. I say it definitely showed that it was a playwright’s work. The lines were provoking and brutally honest, sometimes going way over the board, which if translated into my language--- give me more! At times it does seem too theatrical but it’s all good. Any movie that includes the line: “Now fuck off and die you fucked up slack!” is music to my ears.



I do find one thing weird about this movie. I didn’t feel like Julia Roberts is actually the lead actress. Correct me if I’m wrong, which I don’t think I am but still do in case I am --- wrong, that is, but I felt like the story rotates more about Natalie’s character.

The story works this way. Dan, wonderfully played by Jude Law (I hope Sean Penn’s happy now) met Alice (played by the cunning Natalie Portman) via an accident. Dan, is an obituarist, the job with the real graveyard shift, while Alice is an American who made her way to London to pursue her dream which occasionally is my dream as well, to strip. They “fell in love” had a good thing going right until Dan met Anna, (beautifully depicted by Roberts) a photographer who enjoys taking pictures of strangers especially if they look like me. Weird as it may seem, but these characters seemed to have been gifted with intense sense of betrayal. If treachery has a smell, they’d be the K9 that can locate them



I wish I do have what they have, but as the movie showed, being honest usually don’t work all the time. Dishonesty can sometimes be the sincere way of showing you care and love the person (did I really say this?). This is the type of movie cynics love. It gives them reassurance. Love is not a fluke it’s nil. Just like Dan who seem to think that the newest girl that caught his eyes is the one he’s looking for. Or like Alice, who insists she’s in love with someone as long as she doesn’t feel like leaving them.

Despite being a character-driven film, it seems odd that Anna was not much developed. Larry is such a unique character (intensely portrayed by Clive Owen). He’s the epitome of what an ordinary man usually is and what an ordinary man usually is not. He enjoys being vulnerable, which is definitely not a manly character and he never accepts defeat.

The movie did show a lot of potential but started to stumble on the way to the finish line. Good thing that Damien Rice’s music was there to pick it up and instill that final twist with a little more blow. Disappointing it may be to some (specifically me), but despite all the fuck, suck and cock going on there was nothing of that kind shown in the movie.



Honestly, this is not the type of movie your barkada will love, but if you’re an emotionally charged up brokenhearted lovefool, don’t forget to bring someone with you. Just in case. If you wanna see Natalie Portman do the nasty with the post, watch the movie. And if you wanna see characters make a fool of themselves because of love, or brutally honestly speaking, see your mirage, go… come closer…