Very Good

Rating: 8/10 (24 May 2005)

Once again, Mike Nichols shows us just how clever he is. I don't agree that this is his best film in years - let's not forget Primary Colors, Birdcage, and the heavenly brilliant Angels in America (ignore Wolf and What Planet Are You From), but it certainly is a return to his roots, and definitely his most serious and straightforward film in many years, probably since Carnal Knowledge. It shares, in fact, many of the themes and qualities of Carnal Knowledge (as well as other early classics like the Graduate and Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf) - Like that film, its scale is very small in place and very large in time, following a small group of characters over long time gaps; likewise, we only catch glimpses of their lives, and get most of the information on important events from the characters themselves. Like Carnal Knowledge, Closer focuses on inter-relations between the four main characters, betrayal, mistrust and insincerity. Closer is bleaker, though. It's probably the bleakest thing Nichols had done. It's a downer that doesn't seem extremely special and original as you watch it, but it sticks with you. After all, that's an important mark of a good film.
As for the acting, now: despite my patriotic support of Natalie Portman (her being originally from Israel) and my undying love for her ever since I saw her as a child in Leon, she didn't really impress me in Closer. She tries to be sexy and mysterious, but she's still just a sweet girl, and she doesn't truly convince. Julia Roberts had always gotten on my nerves, and Closer is no exception. The male actors are the ones who really outdo themselves here; Jude Law and Clive Owen are both fantastic, obnoxious and pathetic at the same time as only a real man can be. You despise them and you pity them and you understand them. You are them. These are two great young actors who have a bright future ahead of them.
Interestingly enough, Mike Nichols never did write his own texts. All of his films were written by other people, and like Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf and Angels in America, Closer is also an adapted play. Yet he has a fascinating way of making the texts his own. The dialogues in Closer are well-written, no doubt; but just like in his previous films, it's his brilliant dialogue directing with which Nichols leaves his distinct mark and which makes it convincing, amusing and unnerving all at once. Nichols may not have a vision like Kubrick, Coppola or Scorsese, but he does what he does the best anyone could.
Closer is not an essential, and it's not one of the best films of the year. It's well worth a watch though, especially if you're a Mike Nichols fan or if you enjoy human relations melodramas. Not great, but very good.