I appreciate the daring nature of the screenplay, but in the end, it was just another movie that didn't entertain me.
"Do you have any children?"
"No."
"Would you like some?"
"Yes, but not today."
"Come here. You're beautiful."
"I don't kiss strange men."
"Neither do I."
Fast-forward and Dan has written a novel based on his girlfriend, Alice's wild life. He ends up going to a photographer's studio where he's posing for Anna (Roberts), and he begins an affair with her. Fast-forward again, and we see Dan typing away on his laptop in an Internet personals chatroom, pretending to be Anna. He sets up a meeting at The Aquarium, the title she gave him for his novel, and soon Anna is having an affair with a doctor named Larry (Owen), whom Dan basically set her up with. Before it's all over, the four of them have affairs (all off-camera, off-stage) in every possible combination except girl-on-girl and guy-on-guy. And they're all bitter about the kettle of stew they've brewed up for each other, and we're suppose to feel . . . what?
Not entertained, that's for sure, and not sympathetic. These people are losers and posers who deserve what they get. It's hard to think of them as real flesh-and-blood people, rather than simply clever characters constructed for the purpose of a literary experiment. Yes, that's the trade-off with experimental work, but that doesn't make it a palatable one. I appreciate the daring nature of the screenplay, but in the end, it was just another movie that didn't entertain me enough to make me keep from squirming in discomfort or looking at the clock to see how much time was left. That's kind of sad for a 104-minute film.
Video:
Blu-ray is the consolation prize when movies aren't as captivating as you'd hoped. The Hi-Def 1080p picture looks great, with the 1.85:1 aspect ratio filling out the screen of a 16x9 widescreen television. There's great detail, great sharpness, with sufficient black levels and color saturation.
Audio:
Once again, the sound quality on the Blu-ray is very, very good, with English PCM 5.1 uncompressed audio the featured soundtrack option. As in the best soundtracks, this one has a wide spread across the speakers that fills the room naturally with sound, and perfectly balanced levels of bass and treble. What's interesting is that there's also an Italian PCM 5.1, with additional options in English, French, Italian, Russian, and English DES (descriptive audio track) in Dolby Digital 5.1, with a list of subtitle options that's longer than the menu at a good restaurant: English, English SDH, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Icelandic, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Czech, Polish, Croatian, Slovene, Turkish, Greek, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, Thai, Korean.
Extras:
I really wanted to hear from Nichols or Marber, but the only bonus feature is a music video of Damien Rice performing "The Blower's Daughter." That's it. Big deal.
Bottom Line:
As a narrative experiment, "Closer" is praiseworthy. But as a film about passion, it's surprisingly mono-emotional. It's as if the characters in "Closer" had as hard a time negotiating the challenging script as viewers might.
"No."
"Would you like some?"
"Yes, but not today."
"Come here. You're beautiful."
"I don't kiss strange men."
"Neither do I."
Fast-forward and Dan has written a novel based on his girlfriend, Alice's wild life. He ends up going to a photographer's studio where he's posing for Anna (Roberts), and he begins an affair with her. Fast-forward again, and we see Dan typing away on his laptop in an Internet personals chatroom, pretending to be Anna. He sets up a meeting at The Aquarium, the title she gave him for his novel, and soon Anna is having an affair with a doctor named Larry (Owen), whom Dan basically set her up with. Before it's all over, the four of them have affairs (all off-camera, off-stage) in every possible combination except girl-on-girl and guy-on-guy. And they're all bitter about the kettle of stew they've brewed up for each other, and we're suppose to feel . . . what?
Not entertained, that's for sure, and not sympathetic. These people are losers and posers who deserve what they get. It's hard to think of them as real flesh-and-blood people, rather than simply clever characters constructed for the purpose of a literary experiment. Yes, that's the trade-off with experimental work, but that doesn't make it a palatable one. I appreciate the daring nature of the screenplay, but in the end, it was just another movie that didn't entertain me enough to make me keep from squirming in discomfort or looking at the clock to see how much time was left. That's kind of sad for a 104-minute film.
Video:
Blu-ray is the consolation prize when movies aren't as captivating as you'd hoped. The Hi-Def 1080p picture looks great, with the 1.85:1 aspect ratio filling out the screen of a 16x9 widescreen television. There's great detail, great sharpness, with sufficient black levels and color saturation.
Audio:
Once again, the sound quality on the Blu-ray is very, very good, with English PCM 5.1 uncompressed audio the featured soundtrack option. As in the best soundtracks, this one has a wide spread across the speakers that fills the room naturally with sound, and perfectly balanced levels of bass and treble. What's interesting is that there's also an Italian PCM 5.1, with additional options in English, French, Italian, Russian, and English DES (descriptive audio track) in Dolby Digital 5.1, with a list of subtitle options that's longer than the menu at a good restaurant: English, English SDH, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Icelandic, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Czech, Polish, Croatian, Slovene, Turkish, Greek, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, Thai, Korean.
Extras:
I really wanted to hear from Nichols or Marber, but the only bonus feature is a music video of Damien Rice performing "The Blower's Daughter." That's it. Big deal.
Bottom Line:
As a narrative experiment, "Closer" is praiseworthy. But as a film about passion, it's surprisingly mono-emotional. It's as if the characters in "Closer" had as hard a time negotiating the challenging script as viewers might.
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[release]20862[/release]