neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Closer
	Mike Nichols Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen 2004		When a stage play is optioned for the screen and "opened up" by shooting it in a real-world environment, the results can seem static, wooden, forced, and even downright stagy, no matter what the setting. This is not the case with the film of Patrick Marber's highly praised play "Closer," about the destructive, intertwined relationships of two couples. Its London locales, gorgeously shot, never distract from Marber's screenplay, which is acted with skill and fervor by a quartet of true stars — two British men and two American women. Jude Law is Dan, a would-be novelist who toils away as an obituary writer for a London newspaper. Quite by accident, Dan meets Alice, a lovely, waifish, self-possessed American girl played by Natalie Portman in a subtle, fully-realized performance that reaffirms her status as an actress rising into her profession's upper echelon. Alice moves in with Dan, only he soon finds himself smitten with photographer Anna, another Yank in England. Julia Roberts brings womanly maturity to the role of Anna, especially after she hooks up with fiery doctor Larry, brought to an ardent boil by rugged Clive Owen. As the dynamic between the couples intensifies, so does the engrossing, rueful "Closer." It's mostly about the film's magnetic quartet, but director Mike Nichols, decades after his hit "The Graduate" and the "Closer"-like "Carnal Knowledge," does a fine job, too.