FILMBRATS - REVIEWS

Some films have moments that are so amazing…so perfect and real and convincing, that you forget about everything and become lost in the moment. Mike Nichols’ new film, “Closer,” had one of these moments, and it was so good, so amazingly perfect, that it totally overshadowed any negative feelings I had about anything else in the movie.

Clive Owens, Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, and Jude Law star in the film, and they all get mixed up in each other’s lives. It’s pretty conventional in that sense. But there is a masterful handling of the drama of relationships that makes this film stand out above most others.

When a film works like this one worked for me, I don’t really know who to give credit to, or how to describe why I liked it so much. Maybe it was the script, which really knew what it was like to be in a relationship, and to break up, and to get back together. Or maybe it was the direction, which added force and experience to a script which might not have been very good. Or maybe it was the actors, who might have improvised a lot of my favorite parts. I guess it’s not really important to know, but I feel like patting someone on the back, because it’s not often that I see something I can really relate to.

Guys have issues with other guys. We do. We don’t like other guys to know our private business. We don’t want other guys involved with our relationships. We don’t want our girlfriends talking to other guys about us. We don’t want other guys to know that we cry, that we are insecure, that we are stupid, that we are sexually inexperienced, that our feelings are easily hurt. We want to present the image that we have our shit together and we can take care of our business.

We don’t like to think that other guys had sex with our girlfriends. It bothers us. We like to feel like we discovered something, invented sex, pleased a girl like she has never been pleased before. We can tell ourselves, in moments of clarity, that of course they have had sex with other guys, and it was probably better than sex with us, but it doesn’t matter, because they love us and we can now live happily ever after. But it still bothers us. And imagine if the sex they had with someone else was while they were dating us. Now it’s like an annoying fly that will never go away.

Guys want to know the details. It’s screwed up, but it’s true. We want to know what it was like, whether their penis was big, whether she came, where it happened. This film has two male characters who are unable to get over these sexual indiscretions, and it makes them miserable, but it also makes them totally believable characters. In the end, it comes down to a sense of winning. It doesn’t matter who the girl loves, it matters who she chooses.

I don’t want to go into detail about the plot in general, because it’s rather complicated. It’s basically two guys and two girls and everything gets screwed up and they attempt to put it back together. If you have been in a similar situation, or even known someone in a similar situation, I think you will find everything to be accurate and compelling.

I do want to go into detail about the moment. It comes near the middle of the film. Jude Law tells Natalie Portman that he’s in love with someone else, and that they have been seeing each other for a year. Before he drops this bomb, he says, “This is going to hurt,” then WHAM! He lays it on her. He just tells her, straight up. She is not so much surprised as she is winded. She knew he liked this other woman, and knew that something would probably develop, but he had just returned home, and she was taking a nap, and never expected it to go down like this. She gets dressed, gets prepared to leave, and then she just sits there on the arm of a chair and starts crying. Not movie crying, but really crying, where you feel like hugging her and telling her to stop crying. And she asks him to hold her. And he does, because it’s impossible not to. And she talks to him, but she’s crying, and it all comes out the way it always does when you try to talk and you are crying. And she’s not angry anymore, and she’s lost all the fake courage you get when you are the victim, and for a moment you get to be in charge, and now she’s totally helpless, and she is realizing what life might be like without him, and it’s suddenly real, and all the drama is gone from the moment and it’s nothing but fear, and he can feel it too, and he wants nothing more than for them to be over, because he loves someone else, and it hurts him to lead her on, and he figures that if he can just get her to leave, things might be OK, and he might be able to be with the other woman, and he will be an asshole, but it would be worth it, but he can’t not take care of her, and she can’t not be with him, and she leans up to kiss him, and their lips touch, and there is hesitation, because maybe it’s not allowed, but as soon as they are back in that familiar position, the hesitation is gone, and they can’t think of anything else to do but hold each other for the rest of their lives and never hurt each other again. And her tongue comes out of her mouth, but it’s not exactly met by his mouth, and there is a fraction of a second of awkwardness in their kiss, before they get in rhythm with each other again, and in that fraction of a second, I fell in love with the film, and I didn’t think anything could be more perfect ever.

And because of that moment, I will always love the film, because as I get older, and I see more films, moments are good enough for me. I don’t need the whole film to be brilliant. I would rather have one fraction of a second of perfection than 90 minutes of cleverness. That fraction of a second is far more valuable. That fraction of a second lets me know that I’m not alone, and that’s a good feeling.

(This review is of a rough version of the film, which may in fact change before the final release)

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