Liberal Do-Gooders

reviewed:

The Constant Gardener Directed by: Fernando Meirelles
Written by: Ronald Harwood Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Bill Nighy, Danny Huston, and Pete Postlethwaite

Goodnight and Good Luck Directed by: George Clooney
Written by: George Clooney and Grant Henslov Starring: David Strathairn, George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr, Patricia Clarkson, Matt Ross, Ray Wise, Frank Langella, Jeff Daniels, and Grant Henslov

Two Great Actors; Ralph Fiennes and David Strathairn fight the good fight.

The Constant Gardener
(vague spoilers in this review)
Fernando Meirelles, the co-director of the acclaimed Oscar-nominated City of God has within the space of two features already developed recognizable visual and thematic signatures. Like City of God, this new film has "notice me!" editing and is bursting with saturated beautiful imagery of very ugly to ponder subjects like poverty, drugs, crime, and the hopeless machinery that perpetuates these societal cancers. Meirelles wants to shake us from our complacency and wake us up. He mostly succeeds in doing so. Now that the pyrotechnics of his filmmaking style are less of a shock to the system he needs to do more than grab our attention. We're listening. Tell us something worth hearing.

The storyline of The Constant Gardener involves an ambiguous marriage, a murder most foul, and a corporate coverup. At first the film feels substantive. The fine central performances of Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz as a married British couple living and working in Africa do much to make the film engaging and initially fascinating. But as the plot progresses, the limpness of the storyline and the obviousness of the murder mystery become clear. The only element that works terrifically well are the implied questions regarding the marriage itself: Why were these two souls drawn together? Do they really love each other? Apart from the well-acted marital portrait, all the beautiful flourishes of the filmmaking start to feel like a cover up for a very routine thriller. The film is, as they say, "all dressed up with no place to go."

There's a moment about halfway through the picture that perfectly embodies this abundance of style serving to mask a shortage of substance. The protagonist, a diplomat, is meeting with a corporate bigwig while trying to unlock the puzzle of his wife's murder. The editing of the scene is very busy but the businessman is clearly sinister. He may as well have been twirling a mustache. For the viewer there is unfortunately nothing mysterious within the mystery, there is only this passive watching to do as the hero clicks together the pieces repetitively, scene by scene. As he meets with this villainous type, the camera suddenly veers to a statue within the restaurant its arm outstretched, its hand pointing. And then we're back again to the conversation. It's the type of "look at me" filmmaking gamble that either grabs you or loses you --like Uma drawing the visible square in Pulp Fiction for example. There is finger pointing going on here, yes. But one hoped it would not be quite so specific.

The Constant Gardener wants to be an epic indictment of corporate amorality and a plea for political activism on behalf of Africa, decimated as it is by disease and the greed of big pharmaceuticals. It's a great subject matter but this film is all bark and no bite. There's a lot of righteous finger wagging along the way but many punches are pulled. The movie eventually settles for fingering a single villain for an overly simplistic comeuppance resolution. The larger more troubling indictments are left disappointingly out of focus .
(C +)

 

Goodnight, and Good Luck.
George Clooney's sophomore directing effort is a film which chronicles the fight of Edward R Murrow a heroic journalist who took on the powerful Senator McCarthy during the blacklist-happy and 'pinko'-hating 1950s. David Strathairn, well cast in the Murrow role, finally gets a showcase role and what he does with it is something to savor. Every flick of his eyebrow, every blink seems to convey far more than the purposely thin history-lesson narrative is asking him to. HIs vocal recitation of the famous television addresses are sober and commanding. Even the way he holds his cigarette demands attention.

The rest of the film is also full of classy notable players. The teeming ensemble features reliable supporting actors like Matt Ross, Jeff Daniels, Frank Langella, and Patricia Clarkson all doing bite-sized but perfect work. The cinematographer Robert Elswit who so memorably lensed the bleached and minimal Punch-Drunk Love does a superb job behind the camera here, in rich black and white with lighting that's to die for.

Clooney and his co-writer Grant Helsov (who also has a role in the film) and editor Stephen Mirrione (Traffic) have smartly crafted a tight narrative with minimum digressions and inspired period detailing inserts. Their only minor fumble is a strangely underdeveloped subplot involving a secret romantic coupling. Still, for a film this potentially dry (it is something of a straightforward history lesson after all), it speeds along at an impressive and absorbing clip.

Good Night's critics are technically correct to say that it is an unbalanced look at a complex moment in US history, but the film's heart is in the right place... and the film does provide balance in the context in which it appears. In 2005, the loudest voices we're hearing in America are already playing out McCarthy's side of this struggle in a new context. Do we always need to contemplate both sides of every story? Yes. Do we always need to hear both sides within each telling of said story? My personal soul searched answer is no. Good Night, and Good Luck may be one sided but it's a side that needs the vocal expression at this juncture, just as America needed Murrow's fearless efforts in the 1950s to counterbalance political fear-mongering. And besides, films within the genre of 'heroic journey' in which this film certainly places, rarely give the villain extensive sympathy. And rarely are those films knocked down a peg for not providing it.

Finally, speaking of heroic journeys, George Clooney may be experiencing one himself. After seeing his excessively fussy filmmaking debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind I didn't hold out much hope for him as a filmmaker. Good Night and Good Luck is a relaxed and confident leap forward. This film could prove a pivotal moment in his long transformation from sitcom actor to film star to outspoken celebrity and now, finally, a director to watch. Well done, George.
(B+)

 

-Nathaniel R