{"id":2155,"date":"2004-12-05T13:17:55","date_gmt":"2004-12-05T18:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=2155"},"modified":"2018-12-07T10:19:32","modified_gmt":"2018-12-07T15:19:32","slug":"closer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=2155","title":{"rendered":"Closer"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Berardinelli says<\/a>, in regards to Closer<\/i>, the new Mike Nichols film, starring Jude Law, Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, and the fucking FANTASTIC Clive Owen:<\/p>\n

From a physical standpoint, Closer <\/i>is not a violent film. From an emotional one, it’s brutal. Nichols doesn’t pull his punches. You leave the theater shaken. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s pretty much the size of it. The script is so good that I actually felt I was on drugs or something, watching the movie.<\/p>\n

It was one of those heightened experiences as an audience member- the acting was universally terrific (although Clive Owen … Jesus feckin’ Christ, that guy can ACT), you never knew what these characters would do next (and this wasn’t a gimmick – it felt like real life – you know how people do incomprehensible things in real life? It was like that) … but throughout it all, I would have these intense heightened moments of awareness, thinking: HOLY CRAP, the SCRIPT. The SCRIPT.<\/p>\n

I am dying to get my hands on the script. I want to work on this shit in my acting class. You want to say these words out loud. Screenplays like this one do not come around often. This one was, of course, based on a play … You could tell. The scenes were long<\/i>, sometimes they were 3 times as long as normal scenes in movies … I felt like a kid in a candy store. I love long scenes – if they’re done well, I mean. It reminded me a bit (even though the movie is totally different) of the almost voracious pleasure I got out of seeing Pulp Fiction<\/i> for the first time. In particular, I remember watching the loooooong scene in the Movie Star restaurant between Travolta and Thurman, when they’re on the date, sitting across the table from one another – I remember thinking, as I watched the scene, “Jesus … this is long.”<\/p>\n

That is not a bad thing. I become so used to normal shallow conventional movies – where scenes last 2 minutes a piece, usually.<\/p>\n

But that scene? And the LANGUAGE they got to say … it was delicious to watch. I ached with jealousy. I wanted to say those words.<\/p>\n

The words of the Closer<\/i> script reminded me of that, even though it’s a bleak movie, an emotional battering-ram movie. But the language …<\/p>\n

And Clive Owen.<\/p>\n

I mean, everyone … but Owen in particular. He, for me, was the revelation.<\/p>\n

Berardinelli says – about Owen:<\/p>\n

In Closer<\/i>, the actors get a chance to shine, and no one is brighter than Clive Owen. Despite a number of memorable turns (and one big mistake: King Arthur<\/i>), Owen still lacks household recognition. A likely (and deserved) Oscar nomination for this performance will change that. The ferocity with which Owen delivers his lines, and the restless energy he imparts to Larry, electrifies every scene that he’s in. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He is … I’ve got no words here. It’s juicy, real, frightening, unpredictable, specific … It’s acting. The kind of acting that turns me on. He’s so damn ALIVE.<\/p>\n

Berardinelli says, in re: Julia Roberts:<\/p>\n

This is Roberts the actress, not Roberts the movie star (see Ocean’s Twelve if you’re craving for the latter), and her dedication to the role rather than glamour serves her well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes. Yes. Good for her, man. Good for her. A courageous choice for her, and she has one moment in particular that I already want to see again. The second it was over, I thought: Shit, wish there was a Rewind button. That was pretty damn fantastic, whatever that moment was!!<\/p>\n

She wears no makeup, she’s not a sympathetic character, she’s kind of pathetic on one level, and she doesn’t do the big Julia-Robert-smile thing ONCE. Mike Nicholes has stripped her of all of her tricks, all her movie star-ness, he won’t let her rely on the Julia-Roberts-trademark stuff that every other director probably demands from her … and what happened withOUT all of that movie-star-stuff around her is that an actress emerged. A real actress. Good good stuff.<\/p>\n

All I can say is: This is one of those refreshing examples of an ADULT MOVIE, with ADULT SENSIBILITIES – made for adults, not pandering to a younger audience. They don’t really make “adult movies” that much anymore. I’m not talking about “adult” in terms of the amount of sex scenes, or nudity. There are no sex scenes in Closer<\/i>, although the talk about sex is quite graphic. When I say “adult”, I mean: challenging, unforgiving, clear-eyed, open – about tough truths, about what it is to be a human being. Not catering to the lowest common denominator … Closer<\/i> leaves a lot up to the audience. It doesn’t decide FOR you how you should feel about these people. Closer<\/i> is a film that respects the intelligence of the audience, and THAT, I think, is an “adult” film.<\/p>\n

It’s a delicious film, in that respect, a sheer surprise and pleasure from beginning to end – even though the story it tells is disturbing as all hell.<\/p>\n

See it. Clive Owen will blow you away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Berardinelli says, in regards to Closer, the new Mike Nichols film, starring Jude Law, Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, and the fucking FANTASTIC Clive Owen: From a physical standpoint, Closer is not a violent film. From an emotional one, it’s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[1577,1712,2515],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141821,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155\/revisions\/141821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}