Zodiac

Wow. I don't know even where to begin. This is a great film. Se7en by far is my favorite David Fincher film and actually one of my favorite all time films. Fight Club is certainly up there too. This new film combines many of the film making/storytelling techniques used so effectively in both of those works. What is a step above here is that this film is a straight drama based on real events. It takes place in our world or at least the world of the late 60's and early 70's. FC and 7 take place in their own worlds, similar to ours but not quite real. Fincher's trademark visual techniques work very well here as he tells a story that is at first a newsroom drama then a police procedural and then both at once. All the President's Men, Absence of Malice and The Mean Season all resonate here for me. The newsroom scenes in Zodiac are as wonderfully staged as the police station scenes. They feel like they are filmed in the time they represent and not recreated to remind of us of the time. His team has made the film authentic. In addition to people smoking cigarettes throughout the film, I especially loved the telephone call sequences using the antiquated sound of the other end of the line. There is so much atmosphere in the use of that sound. The film does open with some gruesome killings and the violence when portrayed is not minimized. But the real violence is what happens to the three leads as they are possessed by the solving/reporting of the crime. The cast is awesome especially Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr. in the lead roles; and then Anthony Edwards, Brian Cox, Elias Koteas, Donal Logue, and John Carroll Lynch in supporting roles. There is even another layer of supporting-supporting actors who are also terrific. The best cameo actor moment is the appearance of Charles Fleischer (aka Roger Rabbitt and so many other great voices) as a creepy, creepy potential suspect. He and Jake G. play out a scene that is a basement nightmare. I was a little shocked to see that the film relies on the same "library as informer" plot device that Se7en uses, though maybe this actually happened in this case. I certainly hope not... in a well functioning democracy libraries are allowed to respect the privacy rights of all patrons. Only corrupt governments (and movie plots) force libraries to reveal their patrons/citizens reading patterns. Freedom of thought and unfettered library access is the cornerstone of a free society and must remain untouched even when fighting real evil people. On a semi-lighter note, I was happily surprised to watch the plot develop and just as it felt that it was wrapping up, the film took a turn as the cartoonist moved from cub reporter to full fledged investigator. I really enjoyed the set up of this film from prologue to first act to intermission/bridge to second act. The pacing was just right.
Memorable moment: "Fuckin' library."
Film # 102