ZODIAC (2007)

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"Best movie of 2007"

Trying to give a fair rating to this movie I realized 5 stars in every category was the most fair I could be. I was so extremely impressed by it, that not only it became my second favorite David Fincher movie (right after Fight Club), it became one of my favorite movies of all time.

The first thing I tell people when recommending it, if they know David Fincher, is: don't expect another Seven. That's a HUGE mistake. Seven had all those wonderful freedoms of being an entirely original story. Fincher and the screenwriter were smart in choosing not to distort the Zodiac story to adapt it to a similar style as Seven, instead they followed the true story right to the very end. This makes Zodiac an extremely intelligent and mathematical crime movie, that rigourously presents us with the facts, in such a way that any interested viewer (like myself) can look at them and come up with their own theories.

I recently read Robert Graysmith's first book and I was really impressed at how faithful the movie is, but at the same time, at how Fincher is able to blend his personal style into the historical reality of what happened. This is evident in how he made the scene with Jake Gyllenhaal at the projectionist's house, so creepy and terrifying like it almost belongs in a horror movie, using wonderful lighting and angles. Yet that scene actually happened; it wasn't fantasized, Fincher simply made it look more frightening and nightmarish than what Graysmith described in his book.

The recreation of the murders is so realistic it's really chilling to watch; I was especially shocked at the Lake Berryessa scene, and I thought it was brilliant because it was so disturbing. The movie really transmits to the viewer the victim's sense of helplessness due to the position the killer puts them in. And the silence makes everything more terrifying.

But truly, the most part of the movie's story is carefully devoted to the complex details and workings of the investigations, the struggle for evidence, the cat and mouse game, the department and jurisdiction conflicts, and the parallel obsessed searches of two journalists and two detectives. In fact, I always thought the movie is more about the effects of the Zodiac murders on the people investigating them, than properly about the murders themselves. Because of these long scenes without blood, action or other types of shock value, the movie might feel boring to some people; however, it's precisely the breakthroughs in the investigation, the horribly frustrating dead ends, Graysmith's growing obsession, Toschi's helplessness - it's this type of emotional peaks and lows that make the movie so compelling to me.

The movie is also amazing in how it situates the Zodiac murders in the time they occurred, the troubled 60s and 70s; in fact, it's not just a crime movie, but a period one! The details of historical recreation are really thorough, but subtle, so they don't feel forced, but natural; cars, clothes, architecture, social behaviour (the infamous "black male" gaffe!), media, and of course, police techniques, all is neatly accurate to its period. The soundtrack is also perfectly adjusted.

All the actors behave superbly, but I've always known that David Fincher is also a brilliant actor director. Jake Gyllenhaal is obviously the star, and he is flawless, but two of the cast members were particularly good, in my opinion: Mark Ruffalo because he is physically characterized in a way he looks a LOT like the real Dave Toschi, and he's also managed to display so much of the charisma and devotion to the case that Toschi had. And John Carroll Lynch, that (much like Kevin Spacey in Seven, perhaps...) despite appearing briefly as the strongest suspect the Zodiac case ever had, leaves a dramatic impression that lasts, as an incredibly cold, sarcastic and, yep, SCARY man. One of the strongest scenes of the movie is his astonishing dialogue with the detectives, where he has fun relating himself to the Zodiac, knowing they'll never have the facts to prove it. It pretty much sums up how frustrating this whole case was to the people involved.

Also, I really loved the visual style of the movie, the limited pallette of colours (blues, yellows, browns) adds a lot of atmosphere, along with the beautiful night time shots, such as the cab murder scene.

All in all, it's pretty hard for me, after 2 views, to find something wrong with this movie, because I like its mathematical, non-sensationalist approach. It's not Seven - but because reality is always more shocking than whatever fiction, it's actually better. One thing's for sure: I couldn't help but share a little of Graysmith's obsession with the case. I actually took my own personal notes... Fascinating case. Fascinating movie.