THE GOOD GERMAN

Starring:
George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire, Tony Curran, Ravil Isaynov and Beau Bridges

Director:
Steven Soderbergh

Running Time:
105 mins

 

"Then I saw her"

On the eve of the Potsdam summit as Truman, Stalin and Churchill head to Berlin to decide on who runs Germany, Capt. Jake Geismer (Clooney) returns to the city he was stationed at before the War. Picked up by his driver Private Patrick Tully (Maguire), he realises that the former Nazi stronghold is a very different place to the one he left. When he becomes involved in a murder investigation, he discovers that his former mistress Lena Brandt (Blanchett) is connected to the case and that the Russians, British and US forces are playing a political game for control of what is left of Nazi power.

Director Steven Soderbergh and superstar George Clooney join forces again to recreate Berlin, 1945 but this is not your normal period drama.

What makes 'The Good German' different from any other modern film is that as well as recreating the era they also use the same methods and technology that were available to filmmakers at the time. Gone are zoom lenses, visual effects and of course colour to be replaced by studio back lots, period fixed focal-length lenses and hand held boom microphones. This allows the director to recreate what it was actually like to make a movie back in 1945. Does this make a good movie however?

The answer is yes and no. Using the same methods that were available to filmmakers at that time is an intriguing experiment for an accomplished and respected director who loves to push the boundaries of modern cinema. The film actually looks stunning, succeeding brilliantly in recreating the look and feel of the era. Where the movie falls down is in the script. While the story fits the post war era and pre-empts the start of the Cold War, it is the language of the script that doesn't reflect the movies of the time. It could be said that people would have actually have sworn like this in real life but they would have not done so in the movies. Also there would have been no excessive violence or sex shown on screen. This might be fine in modern films but for an experiment trying to recreate filmmaking from that era, it seems a strange choice to go down this route.

The performances bring the film to light however. Cate Blanchett's Lena Brandt is very reminiscent of the Marlene Dietrich or Ingrid Bergman and looks just as stunning as these legendary actresses. Tobey Maguire is a little too enthusiastic in the role but he reminds us that there is more to him that just his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. George Clooney looks every bit a star from the era as Capt. Jacob 'Jake' Geismer.

'The Good German' is an experimental movie that works for the most part. The story captives you and the performances are very good but it is just a shame that some of the dialogue doesn't really suit what they are trying to achieve.

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Syriana


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2007