Force Fed Films: Closer (2004)

This week Puneet decided I needed to watch a dramatic romance dealing with traumatic relationships. His first choice was High Fidelity, but it turns out I had already seen it. Feeling lucky I had dodged a depressing bullet, I told him my news, only to hear him immediately fire back with no hesitation "Then watch Closer". Damn. I guess he had one more bullet left in the chamber.

Closer stars Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen. Two couples that get too involved. This movie is about affairs, lies, broken hearts and not much else. Hit the jump to see if I blow my brains out from utter depression.


Ok so it's a safe bet I didn't kill myself. In fact I didn't get much out of this other than the clear message that nothing ever works and you shouldn't trust anyone. I'll have to keep that in mind. Not a very pleasant romance movie, that's for sure. This isn't a love triangle, it's a love quadrilateral. There are reasons they don't make movies about these 4 sided shapes, they're messy and annoying.

One thing this movie has to make it stand out from the crowd is a strange way of depicting the passing of time. The movie takes place over a span of 4 years, showing moments here and there spread months apart. Each new scene always starts out with a line explicitly stating how long it's been since the last time you saw the characters. I found it a little awkward and sort of lazy. Awkward in following the flow of the movie, and lazy in the way you're informed. I found myself noticing the fade to white signifying another time skip, and then just waiting for someone to say "It's been 3 months, hasn't it?" or something like that. It kept taking me out of the movie.

Natalie Portman is one of those girls who likes to change her hair a lot.

I also couldn't connect with any of the characters. They all lie and deceive each other, cheating on and with each other, and make up and break each others hearts. I don't think I'm really spoiling anything when I say that by the end, all of them are broken shells of the normal people they used to be. They all undergo some sort of transformation, even if it's subtle. Their acting is all fine and good, I just didn't like any of them.

In the end, and mainly because I couldn't relate properly to any of the unlikable characters, I just couldn't get much out of this movie. Sure, logically I can see the message: Life, love, and relationships are all shit. Deal with it. The ones you want, never want you, and the ones you don't, are the ones that do. A good lesson for the up coming Valentine season to be sure.