Plot: What’s it about?
“Closer” is the story of four beautiful people who do horrible things to one another for no apparent reason. Director Mike Nichols has crafted a very intricate story here, but somehow I think the delivery got messed up. Nichols is one of the world’s most renowned filmmakers with films like “Catch 22” and “The Graduate” under his belt. Last year’s “Angels in America” won just about every award it was nominated for. Suffice it to say that Mr. Nichols is riding a hot streak. “Closer” is a character study of characters that I didn’t find too redeeming. Every time I wanted to feel sympathy for one, they’d speak. Take, for instance, Dan (Jude Law) who, in one breath, professes his love for Alice (Natalie Portman) and in the next tells her that he’s been cheating on her and is in love for someone else. I didn’t things worked like that. The film jumps back and forth in time to catch us up on the ever-changing relationships between the four main characters (played by Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Jude Law and Natalie Portman) and while this helps establish continuity, it was a bit confusing as well.
The story starts when we meet Dan and Alice (Law and Portman respectively) as they stroll in super slow-motion down a London street. It’s a great opening shot. Alice is hit by a car where Dan subsequently takes her the hospital. Flash forward a while later and they’ve become lovers. If that isn’t fate I don’t know what is. Julia Roberts plays Anna, a photographer who takes portraits of a myriad of personalities. Dan is lusting after Anna who is already involved with a Dermatoligist by the name of Larry (Clive Owen). There’s a classic scene in which Larry and Dan have a sexual chat room conversation, though only one of them knows the other’s true identity. I couldn’t help but laugh wondering how many times a day this really happens! The characters juggle back and forth and the only one who really seems to be left out is Alice. Alice was a stripper in New York and when the going got rough, she went back to her trade in London (where Larry found her).
“Closer” is certainly not a bad movie, it’s very well-made and the Oscar nominations for Portman and Owen were well-deserved. I found it a bit pretentious at times and couldn’t really find a character that I could relate to, but I suppose that was the point. The world is full of disgusting people and it would make sense that some of them would happen to be good-looking. The characters possess a bit of this “all-knowing” personality that gave them a smugness that I found annoying and if that’s how it was written in the script then kudos. However, I feel that the actors were doing a “Mike Nichols” film and that was reflected in their performance(s). I will say that the usually obnoxious Julia Roberts was decidedly low-key here – never a bad thing. All in all “Closer” will most likely polarize audiences as the language is very vulgar with next to nothing visually to compliment it (no nudity is what I’m saying). That aside, it’s perhaps the best performance by Portman and I’d be selfish not to recommend this for at least a rental.
Video: How does it look?
The original DVD release of “Closer” was a Superbit release, something that’s taken a back seat now that Blu-ray and HD DVD are on the scene. I broke out my old copy of the movie and watched some selected scenes and then popped this Blu-ray into the player. Wow. The 1.85:1 MPEG-4 HD image is so much better than the Superbit release I don’t even know where to start. Gone are the little artifacts that plagued the earlier release, colors seem more stable and solid and contrast is much improved as well. I don’t know if the old disc was that bad or this new one is just that good, suffice it to say I really don’t care. This is a much-improved look for the film and I love the way it looks. While still not a perfect transfer in terms of other Blu-ray discs, this is a very noticeable improvement and one that I’m happy to give a near perfect score.
Audio: How does it sound?
Again, I used the Superbit DVD of “Closer” as a litmus test to this new uncompressed PCM track (oddly enough, there’s an Italian uncompressed track as well. Odd.). There’s not as much difference to this new track, but it does sound richer than the older DTS track (that has been dropped from this release). Dialogue is very clean and natural and I was again amazed as to how natural and robust the sound was. “Closer” isn’t a movie that I’d associate with having this kind of soundtrack, but again it delivers. And this Blu-ray disc has no shortage of 5.1 tracks too, it contains a Dolby Digital 5.1 track as well as 5.1 tracks in French, Italian and Russian as well as an English Descriptive Audio track.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The same supplement from the Superbit release, a music video featuring Damien Rice performing “The Blower’s Daughter”, is all that’s included here.
