As seen at AFI
Fest 2008:
While
writer/director James Gray’s ability to craft distinct moods and
tones was readily apparent in 2007’s We Own the Night, I
would’ve never guessed from watching that dirty-cop flick that
Gray’s next feature, Two Lovers, would be the
poignant experience that it is. Told from the distant, but
nonetheless intimate perspective of the introverted, but
nonetheless charismatic Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix), who rebounds
from a failed engagement by falling in love with two different
women (Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw), the movie is erotic
and unpredictable—often at the same time.
The titular lovers that Leonard finds himself almost
uncontrollably pursuing couldn’t be more different: Sandra
(Shaw) is the daughter of a Jewish businessman working to merge
his dry-cleaning company with Leonard’s father’s and Michelle (Paltrow)
is his drug-addled upstairs-neighbor who’s quietly seeing a
married corporate-hack out of a subconscious need for chaos.
Leonard is trapped in the middle; he still hasn’t fully
recovered from his failed previous relationship and thus he
allows the whims of the two women—Sandra is obsessed with him
and Michelle texts him late at night when she feels lustful—to
influence him to an unhealthy extent. And despite the fact that
Leonard is rather reserved through it all, the viewer feels a
deep bond with him – his frustrations, passions, confusions,
regrets, longings. All the while, Leonard experiences a quietly
complex relationship with his parents (Moni Moshonov and
Isabella Rossellini), who are the ones who first introduce him
to Sandra and would like to see him marry her but silently
realize that Michelle is electrifying his existence.
Much of the
movie’s poignancy rests in the performances of Phoenix, who
crafts a multi-dimensional man out of a sparingly written
character without so much as hinting at his burgeoning (?) rap
career, and Paltrow and Shaw, both of whom lure the viewer in
just as they do Leonard. But all of the emotions are anchored by
Gray’s deft direction, which makes Two Lovers more
complex than its simple love-triangle might let on. Each time
Leonard shifts back and forth between the two women, substantive
character-development is achieved. Gray’s structure also
maintains a sense of suspense that enhances the story: because
the viewer doesn’t know which of the two women Leonard will
ultimately be with—if he ends up with anyone at all—they are
able to feel the angst involved in his constantly switching
mindset. In this fusion of compelling acting and skillful
filmmaking, Two Lovers emerges a must-see.
-Danny Baldwin,
Bucket Reviews
Review Published
on: 11.10.2008
Screened on:
11.6.2008 at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood, CA.
Two Lovers is rated R and runs 110
minutes.
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