Closer [Movie]

A couple of days ago I put a quote here, saying it was from one of the best-written movies of the decade, a movie that I love!! The movie is Closer, and it's written by Patrick Marber, adapted from his own play (also called... yeah, you guessed it, Closer!!). I was blogging about it 'cause I finally bought the DVD last week, and watched it over again... it's an awesome movie, anyone who hasn't seen it should definitely give it a shot. I've already mentioned the script, it's a character-driven impressively well-written drama, with dialogues that will leave you wondering for quite some times... it's really raw, with people so fucked-up you're left wondering whether you know people like that, or who knows if you're a little bit like them too... another great quote from the movie is

Dan: I want Anna back.
Larry: She's made her choice.
Dan: I owe you an apology. I fell in love with her. My intention was not to make you suffer.
Larry: So where's the apology? Ya cunt.
Dan: I apologize. If you love her you'll let her go so she can be happy.
Larry: She doesn't want to be happy.
Dan: Everybody wants to be happy.
Larry: Depressives don't. They want to be unhappy to confirm they're depressed. If they were happy they couldn't be depressed anymore. They'd have to go out into the world and live. Which can be depressing.


Then there's the direction. Mike Nichols is a genious. I mean, he actually has more bad movies ('80s and '90s) than really good ones (his first few movies, and Closer); but he's still an amazing director... The performances he gets from each of the four main actors in this movie is unique: I've never seen any of them nearly as immersed and convincing as in Closer. Specially Clive Owen and Natalie Portman, nominated for the supporting actor/actress Oscars (why the hell "supporting", I mean if there's a main character, it's definitely Alice), for whom I cheered a hell of a lot, but not enough to turn the head of the Oscar-voters... Portman's performance is specially meaningful because she is a great actress that needs good directing... she's given us great performances (such as this one, V for Vendetta, Garden State) but anyone who's seen the new Star Wars trilogy (and who hasn't, right?) knows that she needs good directing and that George Lucas is no good for that.
All in all, a movie that is so well-written, brilliantly directed and enacted couldn't go wrong. It certainly is sort of disturbing, really raw at times, but is a worthwhile experience, a peek into a very pessimistic view of relationships and how unexplainable and unavoidable people's behavior is sometimes...