Steven Soderbergh has emerged as one of Hollywood's most inventive directors, crafting subversively brilliant mainstream fare (Ocean's Eleven) and low-budget experimentalism (Full Frontal).
Until The Good German, it seemed his occasional narcissistic diversions into unwatchable pet projects ' Ocean's Twelve, anyone? ' were minor blips on a continued road to success.
The director's newest movie, a dour, pedantic and often incomprehensible evocation of 1940s Hollywood moviemaking, represents Soderbergh at his unruliest to date. It boasts a delightfully melodramatic score, sharp black-and-white cinematography and a plot that could make Raymond Chandler's head spin. But one thing this Casablanca homage lacks that its inspiration had is a heart.
George Clooney stars as Jake Geismer, a war correspondent who enters a decimated post-World War II Berlin to cover its road to peace. In true Casablanca style, he has romantic ties to a woman, Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett), who has a crucial secret of her own ' not to mention a fierce desire to flee the country.
As the movie unfolds through chance meetings, back-door deals and one nebulous murder investigation, what becomes clear is how unclear it all is. The film's actors don't do much to make the head-scratching plot palatable either, though Blanchett is an odd but entertaining austere temptress.
Clooney, after showing remarkable range in 2005's Syriana, offers little more than an unhealthy dose of smirking cynicism. And Tobey Maguire ' in a brief but pivotal role ' is the victim of one of the worst acts of miscasting in recent movie history.
The Good German is a suspense film, but it's suspense of the wrong kind. Every scene feels like it's on the brink of something, the next piece of the puzzle ready to fall into place, the next element ready to make it the intriguing rumination on post-war morality that it could have been. But it never comes.
Considering the fun Soderbergh is having at his audience's expense, that could be the cliffhanger.
17 Archives
Matt Burns
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Jake Geismer (George Clooney) and Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett) have a [I]Casablanca[/I] moment in Steven Soderbergh's [I]The Good German[/I]. The film, released in time for Oscar consideration, only garnered a nomination for its musical score by seven-t
