excellent study of the obsession of solving a crime

Rating: 9/10 (31 May 2007)

ZODIAC is a return to form for David Fincher, and is a superb and interesting study of the facts and the characters involved in the hunt for the zodiac killer who terroised San Fransisco, from the late 60's into the 70's. Rather than being a straightforward and sensational thriller, this film relies or is rather more focused and interested in the people involved in solving the crime, looking at how the case becomes an obsession to them yet affects there lives both at work and at home. Robert Graysmith (Jake Gylenhaal) whose book is the source material for this film, is a cartoonist for the San Fransisco Chronicle who along with Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr) becomes obsessed with solving zodiac's cryptic coded messages. They come into contact over the course of the film with the officer in charge, Inspector David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo), who also becomes increasingly obsessed with solving the case. All three men feel the brunt and effects that this case has on them. Avery becomes increasingly drink and drug addled, Toschi's career slowly goes downhill, and Graysmith, though he comes out with a book published on the case, pushes his marriage and domestic life close to breaking point. Fincher handles the film very well, neither going for flashy or stylish camera-work, as shown in his last two films PANIC ROOM and FIGHT CLUB, yet rather approaching it in a subdued style, with the look and feel of the 70's perfectly re-created along with the look of the newspaper office, where most of the reporters are hard boiled and hard drinking hacks. There are some tense scenes, such as the killing by the lake, which is pretty unnerving and is disturbing in what it doesn't show, and also in another scene where Graysmith goes into the basement of a person who may or may not have some crucial evidence and realises there maybe someone else in the house upstairs and he maybe in the home of the killer. A superb film that reminded me of ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN, in how it focus's on the investigation and carry's the feel of similar films from the seventies period of American cinema. Already one of the best films of the year and one I need to see again.