A while ago, someone told me that they thought I'd like Closer a lot and also that I'd identify with it. I can't remember who that was, but I'd like to know. I'd also like to know what I'd done to them, and/or what stories I'd told them about myself.
Anyway, I did quite like the film, and kind of identified with it, whatever that may mean - but really only kind of (I mean seriously, my lifestyle isn't much like theirs). I liked the glittery, clean sharpness of it all - the straight lines and chilly stylishness - which is in keeping with the way the characters interact with each other. Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts, Clive Owen. Doesn't overplay its hand and in its subtlety comes off as a touch reserved and 'through a glass wall' (again, in keeping with the material); but actors good enough that when they need to burn and show something, they do, and we believe in it. Still, made sense to learn, as the credits rolled, that it had been adapted from a play.
Calling Closer an adult drama is spot on. Circles around several sets of questions but particularly to do with love and truth in these modern times, and addresses them cuttingly and unsparingly. (Oh yes, and Alice - or Jane - is right: there's always a moment when you can decide...) All told, it's very accomplished, very well-made, and rather thought-provoking, and yes, there were occasional fleeting flashes of recognition for me as it unspooled (if that's what you want to call them), but even so this is not a film that I could love.
Incidentally, I also rented Garden State, and am thinking that it may've been a tactical error to watch this one before it (given that Natalie Portman is in both and that these will basically be the first two films I've seen her in since The Professional and what I imagine are the differences between the characters she plays in each).
