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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 2004)
decemùer í 2QÛ4 FILM REVIEWS Closer Mike Nichols miraculously manages ro improve on Patrick Marber’s brilliant play by bringing it to the big screen. The longtime director— who’s been flying high lately with The Birdcage and Angels in America (and please give What Planet Are You From.? another chance)— bravely challenges the audience by focusing exclusively on lour partner-swapping characters over a four-year periixl: Dan the failed writer (Jude Law), Larry the dermatologist (Clive Owen), Anna the photographer (Julia Roberts) and Alice the stripper (Natalie Portman). (Dan makes ends meet by writing about dead people. In one of the film’s lighter moments, he reveals that the phrase “he enjoyed his privacy” is obit ctxle for “raging queen.”) Closer leaps through time, jumping ahead months in an instant, hut always giving viewers the benefit of the doubt that they can keep up with the suddenly shifting scenarios. The sex is shockingly frank— hut it’s even more effective because it’s done entirely through dialogue, not nudity. (Can you believe the word “perineum” appears in the film that’s sure to land Nichols his first Best Director Oscar since The Graduate ?) But this is far from lewd fluff. These charac ters personify the life struggles we all deal with: truth vs. lies, kindness vs. cruelty, happiness vs. depression. The most exciting aspect of the project is that it marks a new artistic peak for Diane Sawyer’s hubby— more than 38 years after he helmed Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? This late-career zenith is something Closer shares with 2004’s other best films: After 29 years in Hollywood, Dennis Quaid deserves an Academy Award for In Gtxxl Company (open ing Jan. 14), and Virginia Madsen kicks ass in Sideways (now playing) 21 years after debuting in Rob Lowe’s Class. It’s a pretty damn inspir ing trend. In fact, the three pics have something else in common: They all focus on the struggles between two emotionally engaged men— a real rarity at the movies. Will we kx)k back on these post-election ‘ films as the dawn of The New Honesty in cine ma? Perhaps. Dan sums it up best by sharing his sudden urge to tell the truth: “I’m addicted to it— because without it, we’re animals.” A + —Jim Radosta I Huckabees A beleaguered environmentalist (Jason Schwartzman) seeks the aid of an “existential detective” couple (Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoff man) when he’s usurped hy a corporate hack (Jude Law) representing the allegedly philan thropic interests of the Wal-Mart-like Huck abees chain. It’s corporations vs. human beings and positive vs. negative metaphysics, which sounds like a recipe for heavy-handedness, hut writer/director David O. Russell (Flirting with Disaster) has created a charming, insinuating political/philosophical comedy that, by the end, reaches a peak of poignant subtlety. A- —Christopher M cQuam The Incredibles Pixar takes animation to the next level of jaw-dropping awesomeness with yet another highly marketable movie aimed at bxith kids and their parents. The premise: Mr. Incredible and his family (Elastigirl, Violet Girl and Dash Dash) are repressed superheroes, stuffing their fantastical powers away to please the rest of the world. Sarah Vowell pulls off a particularly hilarious voice-over as the insecure daughter with a closet of black clothes and an even blacker mood. A- —Con Taratoot Team America: World Police Closer to fine: Jude and Julia South Park masterminds Trey Parker and Matt Stone have outdone themselves in this sharp spoof of action-adventure clichés and the war on terrorism. Queers will especially appreciate the film’s mockery of Hollywood liberals in the Film Actors Guild, or F.A.G., as well as the lengths (ahem) that our hero, Gary, will take to rid the planet of had guys. Oh, and did I mention it’s all done with marionettes? A- -JR Vera Drake In Mike Leigh’s latest, set in postwar Lon don, Imelda Staunton plays a wife, mother and housecleaner with an endless capacity for help ing those in need, a generosity that extends to perfonning then-illegal atartions for young women too ptx>r or frightened to go elsewhere. Not a single quietly devastating detail is spared in depicting Vera’s wrenching downfall. Leigh’s gracefully confident, matter-of-fact style evades mawkishness and showcases some exceedingly fine perfonnances. A- —CM The Yes Men A brilliant documentary ataut a group of activists whose M.O. is to impersonate World Trade Organization representatives and other crooked businesspeople for the purpose of making the word a kinder, gentler place. Also in their repertoire: switching the voice taxes of Barbie and G.I. Joe dolls. (Imagine children all over town getting G.I. Joes that exclaim, “I love shopping with you!” ) You’ll fall off your seat laughing. A — J.B. 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