Closer

“Closer” turned out to be the pick of the lot since I didn’t have any expectations before watching it. All I knew was that it was an Oscar nominated movie.

Jude Law (JL), Natalie Portman (NP), Clive Owen (CO) and Julia Roberts (JR) star in this exploration of relationships. But this is anything but a mushy movie. You can’t watch it with your family, for one!

Jude Law plays this “obsessed with truth” man, who is unable to keep a relationship, breaking in and out of relationships. Clive Owen plays a dermatologist who meets Julia Roberts through a prank by Jude Law. That prank scene is one, graphic interlude in cyberspace and must be the first mainstream movie that addresses this aspect of modern lives. Its really well played out.

JL is excellent in this movie and there will be a lot of broken-hearted/delighted women at the end of the movie depending on what they like about JL. The climax of the movie is particularly fantastic. It is pretty difficult to write an original romantic movie these days, considering the vast no. of movies in the genre. But then writing out a mature script like this, must be tougher!

NP stars in the role of this neo-waif who appears in JL’s life and plays out an amazing sequence of events. This must be her best role yet. And she delivers like a Blue Whale on Steriods! Solid performance. She is absolutely at home playing this natural, no frills, young lady in JL’s life. She is particularly terrific in one scene with CO where she keeps uttering soft “Thank You s” while he’s raving. She’s “Oh so desirable” as the young carefree girlfriend of JL in the initial parts of the movie. And then there’s this extraordinary scene in which JR is shooting NP. I am surprised to see she didn’t make it to any of the major awards this season. In fact, the movie itself could have gone and won at any of the alternative movie festivals as well.

Julia Roberts essays the role of a professional photographer, quite creditably. Her character brings to mind the protagonist’s lover (also a photographer) in Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being.” She’s got an ordinary role in the movie, not quite as strong as JL/NP/CO, but she is very impressive as the woman who’s torn between a man who dotes on her and a man who can’t see her with anyone else.

The surprise packet is CO. He excels in the role of the sex-obsessed husband who is surprisingly faithful to JR, to whom he is married till the ending of the movie where the movie turns into a hash of relationships gone awry – like the script writer went crazy. If one remembers an old Miller Lite ad, in which there’s this guy whose hands just can’t keep still when his hands get around a bottle of Miller Lite, one could understand what he could have written as the ending of this movie. As an aside, it is an intelligent guess as to what happens in the actual ad! Anyways, watch out for the last few scenes in the movie where JL goes to meet CO at work. Awesome. If one thought that a star could never be overshadowed by a lesser known actor, check this out.

On that tantalizing note, I recommend Closer for anyone who’s been in and out of an intense relationship or will be!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A17JEV7KDFAHGS/ref=cm_cr_auth/104-9364640-3427910