VARIOUS & SUNDRY OSCAR & GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEES (CONT.)
THE GOOD GERMAN *** (out of ****) Starring George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire, and Jack Thompson Directed by Steven Soderbergh & written by Paul Attanasio, from the novel by Joseph Kanon 2006 105 min R Cate Blanchett also appears in “The Good German,” Oscar nominee for Score, not, inexplicably, for Cinematography. If you were to believe my wife, “The Good German” is all about Oh-My-God-Shoes. Cate plays a post-war Berlin prostitute specializing in world-weary sighing, loaded gazes, and Shoes-That-Are-To-Die-For. Although I barely registered Cate’s footwear, except to notice that she wasn’t barefoot, The Wife apparently found them worthy of the kind of lust she usually reserves for unkempt long-haired Irishmen. So, if you were to ask her, “The Good German” had some intrigue and Clooney and murder and something to do with a war, but mostly – These Shoes Rule. IMDb sez: “While in post-war Berlin to cover the Potsdam Conference, an American military journalist is drawn into a murder investigation which involves his former mistress and his driver.” If you were to condescend to ask me, I would say “The Good German” is a refreshingly visual film during this season of Oscar blabbing, and a refreshingly straight-ahead genre piece next to so much Oscar pretense. But the first question everyone asks about “The Good German” is: what did you think of the style? Not only is the film set in the 1940s but it’s been shot using the techniques and style of a Hollywood thriller of the ‘40s. Think “Casablanca.” Which means, not just black-and-white, but the acting, narrative, compositional, and editing conventions of the era. Even the credits and unconvincing rear-projection seem to come from yesteryear. “The Good German” is not the first film of late to dust-off a style of a bygone era. The Coen Brothers’ ultra-noir “The Man Who Wasn’t There” split Best Director at Cannes in 2001 with “Mulholland Dr.” Guy Maddin has made a career out of combining Eisenstein-esque silent theatrics with digital video and potty humor. Todd Haynes, with more mixed results, dusted-off the stuffy 1950s melodrama with “Far From Heaven.” With “The Good German,” director Steven Soderbergh has chosen a genre less interesting than silents and film noir to recreate. “Casablanca” may be a classic, but not a stylish one. Like the mainstream films of its day, “The Good German” dabbles with the hard shadows of noir without ever truly succumbing to them. It’s still breathtaking, though, and I smiled when I realized he shot it in 4:3. Thomas Newman’s Oscar-nominated score does a brilliant job at being as overwrought and unnecessary as the orchestral scores of the day. Critics of “The Good German” have hounded it with the question “why?” Why has Soderbergh done this? To which I say, well, why the hell not? Film Freak Central accurately points out that the movie proves that Guy Maddin does it better (to which I say, there’s no shame in losing to the best). Maybe I just have a very high tolerance for pointless, self-indulgent technical exercises. Maybe it’s because, as much as I like “Traffic” and “Solaris,” part of me is skeptical whenever Soderbergh tries to be meaningful. I trust him as a skilled craftsman in love with his tools – which is why I’ve enjoyed the “Ocean’s” movies – but when it comes to messages I question whether his heart is in them. “The Good German” is just such a wide-eyed technical experiment and I had fun with it. And there’s a great scene of Clooney barely noticing that he’s getting stitches in his face. If anyone deserves to make the kind of movie Cary Grant used to make, it’s George Clooney. He’s so cool. More Various & Sundry Oscar Nominees (“Half Nelson” and “The Pursuit of Happyness”) and “Strangers with Candy.” |