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Review #374 of 365
Movie Review of The Good German (2006) [R] 105 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $12.25
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 21 January 2007
Time: 4:55 p.m.
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
DVD Release Date: unscheduled
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Directed by: Steven Soderbergh (Bubble)
Screenplay by: Paul Attanasio (The Sum of All Fears) based on the novel by Joseph Kanon
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Jack Thompson (Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones) • John Roeder (The Still Life) • George Clooney (Syriana) • Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man 2) • Cate Blanchett (Notes on a Scandal) • Tony Curran (Miami Vice) • Ravil Isaynov (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) • Beau Bridges (Charlotte's Web)
Soundtrack: order the CD below
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Note: Read the spoiler review with a retraction by clicking here.
Director Steven Soderbergh definitely deserves the title of best experimental director of 2006 with his direction and release of the murder mystery Bubble which he cast using people whom had basically never acted before from the same region where the shot the film in Ohio, and then for his attempt to recreate the look and feel of overly glamorized black and white films of the 1940s, like Casablanca, with his post-WWII, historically intriguing thriller based on Joseph Kanon's The Good German. Using authentic, antique techniques during filming to achieve the desired affect, the film is perfectly successful in illuminating Cate Blanchett who also delivers a tour-de-force performance as the mentally self-tortured Lena Brandt with too many secrets for any one person to harbor.
Cate Blanchett as Lena Brandt(Click Still Photo to Purchase)
It fails, however, as a film in two major ways that sadly, knock this ambitious attempt down a few pegs from definite Oscar-bait status. First and foremost was the miscasting of Tobey Maguire and George Clooney in the other two leading roles. Mr. Clooney looked great in black and white in Good Night, Good Luck as the 1960s telejournalist Fred Friendly—the name says it all. Whereas, Ms Blanchett's acting prowess and true screen legend looks carry her toward success, Mr. Clooney lacks both. People Magazine has dubbed him the Sexiest Man Alive, and maybe that's the problem, he's just too good looking for the role, and not a good enough actor to make it possible for us to forget he's George Clooney. When he's playing Danny Ocean, it's more like an alias for George Clooney than George Clooney playing Danny Ocean, so, it's not only not as bothersome, it's fun. Here, in the Good German, however, every time he's on screen, the scenes seem forced, he's blurting out lines mismatching his facial expressions like a badly translated and then overdubbed international film. Likewise, Tobey Maguire, whose character is a lot more fun to play than Mr. Clooney's looks horribly out of place, way too boyish, and way too hard to believe he could knock the crap out of George Clooney in a post-bar brawl over $10,000 occupation marks. While thoroughly enchanting as the teen superhero Peter Parker/Spider-man where his vulnerability and soulful eyes reveal the conflicted and tragic underpinnings of a person who has had greatness thrust upon him, this role as the American G.I. motor pool driver turned major Berlin black market tycoon was hard to fathom. Again, it looked like Tobey Maguire moonlighting in an old black and white movie—something he did once before in one of the best and most underrated films of the late 90s, Pleasantville. Again, it seems like the casting director was looking for two men who had previously shown off well in black and white, and said, "ah hah, Clooney and Maguire". Neither works terribly well in his role and this coupled with the film's other major problem sank it. The other major problem with the film is something that probably most film historians wouldn't have been able to predict really, until now. It's nearly the same reason why this year's How to Eat Fried Worms and even the beloved Charlotte's Web didn't turn out to be as good as expected. Neither story, actually, is as timeless as they seemed when we read them as children. By today's standards, a film or story about the harvesting of a runty pig raised by a little girl in her uncle's barn and protected from death by fancy writing on her own world wide web, just doesn't seem like a good story for children at all. While the story for the Good German translates fine, by now, the genre of such post WWII films and the intrigue associated with the trials of the Nazis and the politics of putting an entire nation of people on trial seems to have reached an end of its important relevance. Had this film come out in the 1960s it would have been of an entirely different impact. Given the political climate of the day, it's message and the lynchpin to the story, which is really Lena Brandt's past, lack the power and punch to zing this home. Translating stories from the past to the present have to be done carefully and with thoughts of how to make this film relevant to audiences of today. It reminded me of a time a few years ago when I saw a high school production of "The Music Man", and I thought to myself, "This interpretation and presentation is horrifying. This would never fly if written for the stage today with the sexism of the story so bold and rampant. What was the director thinking to have kids in the 1990s performing this musical and what is it teaching all of the kids in the audience. I wouldn't want my kid to be in it or to see it now." This effect is only made worse in The Good German precisely because Mr. Soderbergh's intuition with the film told him to replicate the look and feel of a real 1940s classic as if that might somehow make the movie more real for today's audiences. In fact, it has precisely the opposite effect. Beginning with newsreel footage of the war, and then expanding to full screen footage of the actual film, the film does seem to transport us back in time. But it does so to a place of discomfort not one of delight and intrigue. The eerie and incessant musical score, didn't help.
Georgy Clooney as Capt. Jake Geismer(Click Still Photo to Purchase)
Clooney and Maguire looking like they got transported back along with us, didn't help. It's not that we wouldn't care any more if the US military of 1945 might have covered up the real atrocities committed by certain Nazi scientists because they wanted these scientists for their own service back in the USA, it's that if it happened, it's way too late to do much about it and there are more pressing concerns for the world today about which something might be able to be done. There is not much that can be learned from this history that seems applicable to today's standards. Had Mr. Solderbergh filmed the movie using conventional techniques, using actors who didn't look like superheroes of the 2000s, and added some character, a grandson, someone alive today who stumbles across the story, to pull it into this decade, he might have created a less artistically alluring concept, but a better overall film experience for 2006.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
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Other Projects Featuring The Good German (2006)
Cast Members
Jack Thompson
• John Roeder • George ClooneyTobey Maguire
• Cate Blanchett • Tony CurranRavil Isaynov
• Beau BridgesDirector
Steven Soderbergh
Writer
Paul Attanasio
Novelist
Joseph Kanon
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The Good German (2006) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Director Steven Soderbergh deserves kudos for his attempt to recreate the look and feel of overly glamorized black and white films of the 1940s, like Casablanca, with his post-WWII, historically intriguing thriller based on Joseph Kanon's The Good German. Using authentic, out-dated filming techniques to achieve the affect, the film is successful in illuminating Cate Blanchett who delivers a tour-de-force performance as the mentally self-tortured Lena Brandt. The miscasting of Tobey Maguire and George Clooney in the other leading roles, despite previously playing so well in black and white in Pleasantville and Good Night, Good Luck, did not help matters as they resemble fish out of water. The story, also, given the times, impacts less than it might have during the 1960s. It's difficult to ferret out the relevancy of the story to people's lives today, and that decreased the relevancy of the film and its antique artistry.
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