Closer: Review By moviegeek

Closer begins and ends in the same way. Though it begins and ends in a completely different tone and rhythm. It is a movie about people. A movie about interactions. It's a movie about truth, or lack thereof. With it's sensational cast, Closer becomes a mesmerizing story.

Alice (Natalie Portman), a stripper, locks eyes with Dan (Jude Law), a writer, who pranks Larry (Clive Owen), a doctor, into thinking Anna (Julia Roberts), a photographer, is dirtily and lustfully in love with him. Dan falls for Anna while in a relationship with Alice, and Anna falls for Dan mutually while married to Larry. But the deceit is woven all around these characters. No one here is innocent. There is no good and bad. These are people, each with secrets and lies, each with love towards someone.

Closer is an intelligent film for intelligent people. It takes no breather to let you catch up. It moves along, very rapidly so, jumping ahead months and years. But it is a mesmerizing pace. I was searingly involved with every one of these characters.

I loved how the movie managed to be so focused on only these four people, and at the same time be so scattered. Never once was I rooting for a certain character. In fact, they are all lying, unfavorable people. And they know it. They wear it on their forehead. And they are all burdened by it.

The acting here is sensational. Julia Roberts give a phenomenally wrenching performance. Natalie Portman is unnaturally strong and emotional. Jude Law, always good, gives a wonderful portrayal. And Clive Owen, who I have never liked in anything, steps out of his usual boredom, and becomes an electrifying addition.

Closer is just wrenching. Emotionally and mentally. It asks the questions that no conventional romance movies dare to ask. It treads the ground of heartbreak and denial that is rarely seen. The movie feels real. There are a few times that it feels staged, but maybe that's how it is. Maybe all they are trying to convince themselves will happen, really won't. Maybe it is all predestined to failure, or success. The ending is thought-provoking. I still can't decide who ends up happy, or even satisfied.

Closer leaps and bounds across the lives of broken people, and somehow it speaks more truth through all of the lies.