The Good Homage A Review of Steven Soderbergh The Good German. by Drew Morton
Rating: B+
When I attended a screening of Steven Soderbergh's latest film The Good German two weeks ago at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, Soderbergh introduced the film, which was screening on a double-bill with Casablanca, as one Michael Curtiz could have made if there lacked the Production Code. Keeping this as his objective, Soderbergh filmed the project only with equipment available in 1945 while juxiposing this style with explicit violence, nudity, and cursing. The double-bill idea was fitting; essentially, The Good German is a parallel universe version of Casablanca, which both makes the film interesting and ultimately lends it a certain hollowness.
Without delving too deeply into the plot, the film begins with journalist Jake Geismer (George Clooney) arriving in Berlin to report on the peace negotiations following the immediate end of World War II. At the request of Colonel Muller (Beau Bridges), Geismer is paired up with Tully (Tobey Maguire), an American soldier who will be his escort and driver through the fragmented city. However, not long after his arrival, Geismer discovers that "things are not the way they appear to be," as Tully robs him and beats him following the discovery that Tully is both dating his former flame, Lena (Cate Blanchett) and is involved with the black market. Not long after, an American service man turns up dead and Geismer finds himself both in the middle of a murder mystery and within the remnants of his relationship with Lena.
The film finds itself so massively indebt towards the superior films of Curtiz and Carol Reed that one senses an overcomplicated plot as a means of compensation. However, as labyrinthine as the plot becomes, the film is almost solely about its noir style and the actors inhabiting the gritty streets of Berlin, which looks strikingly similar to the streets of Reed's The Third Man. Aesthetically, Soderbergh's black and white photography, credited under his pseudonym Peter Andrews, and the production design by his regular collaborator Phillip Messina, essentially stands as its own character and will probably bear fruits come award time. Soderbergh's Berlin is beautifully haunting, amazingly constructed out of Hollywood backlots and found footage, full of images that linger in the viewer's mind.
Mise-en-scene aside, the film's main attraction is its stars. Clooney takes a mildly-startling turn as Geismer who, while he shares Clooney's charm and sex appeal, completely lacks any physical empowerment. While not as ineffectual as his character in Stephen Gaghan's Syriana, Clooney is beaten probably six or seven times throughout the film and during the climax, is almost frighteningly useless. Sensing this early in the film after ambushed by Tully, Geismer seemingly comes to the conclusion that in order to overcome such obstacles, he must rely both on his charms and power of observation. Blachett, taking the role of Lena, makes the most of her cold-hearted moll, who finds herself sinking into prostitution to survive. The supporting players, most notably Leland Orser turn as Geismer's old friend and Deadwood's Robin Weigert as Lena's "roommate" are also noteworthy.
Conversely, it is Maguire's gear-shifting performance that stands out as one of the most problematic characteristics of the film. Due to his fame as Peter Parker, Maguire comes off as being sorely miscast in the role of the sadistic Tully. His teenaged looks and boyish voice mocks the delivery of his dialogue to a somewhat comical end. However, at the same time, his boyish charm makes the horrible violence he inflicts much more terrifying.
Performances aside, at the end of the film the viewer is left with a bittersweet taste on their cinematic pallet. On one hand, one has just watched a successful and entertaining homage while, on the other hand, all they have watched are a blend of superior films channeled through the interesting notion of "what if there hadn't been a Hays code?" The Good German is Casablanca, literally right down to the last moments. Is this a good thing? Well, the film is not nearly as flat as Van Sant's remake of Psycho, but it does lack both the innovation of a Tarantino homage and substance of greater Soderbergh films, be it a genre homage like Out of Sight or experiment along the lines of Bubble.
Drew Morton is a graduate student at UCLA in Film Studies/Critical Studies department. He is presenting a paper entitled "Twin Cinema: The False Binary of 'Hollywood' and 'Independent' within the films of Steven Soderbergh" at the annual conference of the Society of Cinema and Media Studies in March. Also a writer for the media blog "Dr. Mabuse's Kaleido-Scope," he is also currently editing an anthology on American Independent Film.
Rating: B+
When I attended a screening of Steven Soderbergh's latest film The Good German two weeks ago at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, Soderbergh introduced the film, which was screening on a double-bill with Casablanca, as one Michael Curtiz could have made if there lacked the Production Code. Keeping this as his objective, Soderbergh filmed the project only with equipment available in 1945 while juxiposing this style with explicit violence, nudity, and cursing. The double-bill idea was fitting; essentially, The Good German is a parallel universe version of Casablanca, which both makes the film interesting and ultimately lends it a certain hollowness.
Without delving too deeply into the plot, the film begins with journalist Jake Geismer (George Clooney) arriving in Berlin to report on the peace negotiations following the immediate end of World War II. At the request of Colonel Muller (Beau Bridges), Geismer is paired up with Tully (Tobey Maguire), an American soldier who will be his escort and driver through the fragmented city. However, not long after his arrival, Geismer discovers that "things are not the way they appear to be," as Tully robs him and beats him following the discovery that Tully is both dating his former flame, Lena (Cate Blanchett) and is involved with the black market. Not long after, an American service man turns up dead and Geismer finds himself both in the middle of a murder mystery and within the remnants of his relationship with Lena.
The film finds itself so massively indebt towards the superior films of Curtiz and Carol Reed that one senses an overcomplicated plot as a means of compensation. However, as labyrinthine as the plot becomes, the film is almost solely about its noir style and the actors inhabiting the gritty streets of Berlin, which looks strikingly similar to the streets of Reed's The Third Man. Aesthetically, Soderbergh's black and white photography, credited under his pseudonym Peter Andrews, and the production design by his regular collaborator Phillip Messina, essentially stands as its own character and will probably bear fruits come award time. Soderbergh's Berlin is beautifully haunting, amazingly constructed out of Hollywood backlots and found footage, full of images that linger in the viewer's mind.
Mise-en-scene aside, the film's main attraction is its stars. Clooney takes a mildly-startling turn as Geismer who, while he shares Clooney's charm and sex appeal, completely lacks any physical empowerment. While not as ineffectual as his character in Stephen Gaghan's Syriana, Clooney is beaten probably six or seven times throughout the film and during the climax, is almost frighteningly useless. Sensing this early in the film after ambushed by Tully, Geismer seemingly comes to the conclusion that in order to overcome such obstacles, he must rely both on his charms and power of observation. Blachett, taking the role of Lena, makes the most of her cold-hearted moll, who finds herself sinking into prostitution to survive. The supporting players, most notably Leland Orser turn as Geismer's old friend and Deadwood's Robin Weigert as Lena's "roommate" are also noteworthy.
Conversely, it is Maguire's gear-shifting performance that stands out as one of the most problematic characteristics of the film. Due to his fame as Peter Parker, Maguire comes off as being sorely miscast in the role of the sadistic Tully. His teenaged looks and boyish voice mocks the delivery of his dialogue to a somewhat comical end. However, at the same time, his boyish charm makes the horrible violence he inflicts much more terrifying.
Performances aside, at the end of the film the viewer is left with a bittersweet taste on their cinematic pallet. On one hand, one has just watched a successful and entertaining homage while, on the other hand, all they have watched are a blend of superior films channeled through the interesting notion of "what if there hadn't been a Hays code?" The Good German is Casablanca, literally right down to the last moments. Is this a good thing? Well, the film is not nearly as flat as Van Sant's remake of Psycho, but it does lack both the innovation of a Tarantino homage and substance of greater Soderbergh films, be it a genre homage like Out of Sight or experiment along the lines of Bubble.
Drew Morton is a graduate student at UCLA in Film Studies/Critical Studies department. He is presenting a paper entitled "Twin Cinema: The False Binary of 'Hollywood' and 'Independent' within the films of Steven Soderbergh" at the annual conference of the Society of Cinema and Media Studies in March. Also a writer for the media blog "Dr. Mabuse's Kaleido-Scope," he is also currently editing an anthology on American Independent Film.