THE STORY OF TWO LOVERS... AND THE DOWNFALL OF JOAQUIN PHOENIXThey say genius resides in insanity. This would be an excellent example. The film is set on a backdrop of cloudy gray Brighton Beach. Leonard (Phoenix) has just moved back in with his parents after a relationship gone bad. He makes half-hearted attempts to end his life, but he doesn't want to die. He just wants something less predictable. As his family wants, he works at their dry cleaning store, almost with his head in the clouds waiting to decide the next course of action. His uber-Jewish parents have also set him up with a "very nice Jewish girl", in hopes for marriage and all things traditional. Leonard follows slowly and blindly. He doesn't want to settle and he doesn't want to follow this well worth ancestral path. It is about this time that he notices a neighbor, Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow) a shiksa goddess (non-Jewish) who is new and exciting and stunning and just as mentally scarred as he is. She offers him an opportunity to veer off the well beaten path. He is excited by her and she comes to depend on his gentleman virtues. So who does he choose?
Who can say what Joaquin Phoenix has going on in his head with the whole "this is my last movie" and "now I'll be a rapper" thing. The part that worries me is that he will veer off his very successful career leaving us to want more. His ability to bring this broken shell of a man out without it being over done is amazing. If this is his last film, he will go out with a bang. Gwyneth Paltrow IS that messed up but pretty girl. She is so complicated and vulnerable all at the same time. I'm not sure anyone else could have pulled that performance off. The movie is dark and cold and not a "feel good" film and it was punished for going against the grain. I've never seen a movie pull off a feeling, not a mood but a texture. It's a shame that this film did not and will not get the recognition it deserved.
BITE: A bit moody and dark, but stunning acting and well crafted.
