A bit pretentious, but an enjoyable flick none the less

Rating: 6/10 (15 January 2005)

Closer was an interesting, and entertaining film. This certainly wasn't a film that bored me. But it then equally so, it wasn't that great a film.
It struck me very much pretentious film, that with its forward dialog and troubled character we'd all admire its brilliance. But the characters never, for me, went beyond being puppets for the writer or director's amusement. The never felt real or understandable. The dialog felt very much like a stage production (so I wasn't surprised to then see it was based on a play) and much of the dialog was what a lot of us would think in many of these situation, but not say. So this gave it an almost unreal quality at times.
The film also had these time jumps, which are totally unclear at first. This caused me confusion, and again just struck me as another chance for them to try and be different, but rather pointlessly so.
Some plots "twists" are also thrown in, but they may just leave you asking "Why?" in confusion instead of "Why?" in contemplation.
There are some points of particular merit. Clive Owen steals the show with his performance, and puts Julia Roberts (who is typically Julia Roberts) and Jude Law (who is typical Jude Law) in the shade. Natalie Portman was also wonderful, so I found the main scenes between Clive and Natalie were the best of the film.
As I said, I enjoyed the film. It's not a bad film. But it's not particularly fathomable. It does things which try to be clever, but ultimately aren't. You know a clever film because it doesn't try to be clever. It tells its story and lets the viewer come to a conclusion, rather than a contrived direction which it wants you to walk down.
If you want a film about the flaws of people, and how they destroy themselves and lives around them, then I recommend The Rules of Attraction instead.