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Two Lovers (2008)

Director: James Gray

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8 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

With the likes of ‘The Yards’ and ‘We Own the Night’, James Gray has almost been American cinema’s next big thing for a while. His films are crafted with seriousness, acted with intent, and take great care over the expressive ramifications of their rich colour palette. This much is true of his latest offering, which is unfortunately also inhibited by its predecessors’ emotional opacity.

If this really is his acting swansong, Joaquin Phoenix, Gray’s signature performer, shows no lack of commitment as a troubled young man caught between two very different women. On the rebound from a breakdown, Phoenix’s Leonard Kraditor finds himself back with his parents in Brighton Beach, where his dry-cleaner dad is soon trying to pair him off with a colleague’s daughter (Vanessa Shaw). While there’s a spark between them, Phoenix is also distracted by an attractive neighbour (Gwyneth Paltrow, effectively cast against type), whose nearby apartment is paid for by her wealthy married lover.

It’s a scenario ripe for comedy, yet Gray approaches it with characteristic gravitas (inspired by Dostoyevsky’s ‘White Nights’), examining the destructive romantic myth of perfect fulfilment. Obviously, kindly Shaw wants to look after still-hurting Phoenix, whereas messed-up Paltrow stirs his own nurturing instincts, each woman providing what the other cannot. Fair enough as a conceit, but in the real world you can’t imagine either of these women giving such a creepy, constipated character a second glance. Gray’s direction lovingly toys with images of containment and release, effectively playing out the drama in visual terms – but we never really feel it.

Author: Trevor Johnston

Time Out London Issue 2014, March 26 – April 1, 2009

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User reviews of this film

Steve Kusheloff said...

Posted on Jul 08 2009 20:11 Re: "...a scenario ripe for comedy..." Are you nuts? Nothing about this movie was funny, or should have been. It was extremely well done, but very uncomfortable to watch because Phoenix did such a great job. you couldn't help but feel a great sense of empathy for his character.

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Roddy said...

Posted on Apr 25 2009 21:30 What a depressing film. Don't waste 2 hours of your life. My wife chose it and spent the rest of the night apologising. Cant imagine its going to sell many tickets.

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ARCHGATE said...

Posted on Apr 07 2009 07:42 Madison - thanks. I will try and give it another go. Like I said, I think Gray is a talented director ... The Yards is a very neglected film, but it is very good. Thanks.

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Madison said...

Posted on Apr 06 2009 23:05 I don't think his acting was moronic, he was just playing a slightly moronic character. I thought it was an engaging exploration of the dynamics of romantic obsession, whether it be loneliness, longing, lust, alienation or anxiety. Enjoyed it but one of those films you probably get more out of when you watch it a second time.

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ARCHGATE said...

Posted on Apr 03 2009 23:24 Unfortunately for me, I found the acting by Phoenix to be totally irritating and at times even moronic. I could not stand watching this bleak film and walked out after about 30 minutes. Gray, has talent as a director, but I think he is gradually flushing his career down the bog.

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Hundertwasserman said...

Posted on Mar 30 2009 23:47 I’m not going to say that the movie had a profound or a life changing impact on me but yes, I enjoyed it although at first I found JP’s acting of the dysfunctional type getting a little bit under my skin.
Two lovers is a movie that should not really be viewed from a realistic perspective. Sure enough, those characters are probably never to be found in real life and I cannot imagine of a sane, good-looking female becoming enchanted by the fact that a strange guy asked his mother to dance with him while at his father dry cleaner, but then again that’s what’s good about a film: it’s a work of fiction and as such it’s up to the audience to decide to cross the fine line between reality & empathy, abstraction & fiction.
I found the movie an interesting attempt to explain romantic love or at least the notions associated with it. The pain, the misleading interpretations of actions and words, the subjective point of view making people believe what they need to believe, the vulnerability and the insecurity – the film touches on all the above in a brave but quiet, almost esoteric way. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece and it has no claims to be one but it ends in a rather tragic and bittersweet way, painfully human, so in the end it worked for me.

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Ieuan said...

Posted on Mar 30 2009 14:23 average film

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Olly said...

Posted on Mar 23 2009 11:47 Awful writing from Joshua Rothkopf ; 'shiksa' and 'nebbish'-somebody here jewish by any chance? Then two pretentious constructs of his own- 'imperfect connection ' and 'So much of life's momentousness is accidental'...puke,leave me out,JR!
( JR,try googling Matthew Norman if you want to know what really good,amusing writing with a very occasional hebrew reference is.)
Wanna see the film,mind....but an unilluminating,pretentious elitist Time Out film summary,who knew?

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