The Good German
is an extremely polarized film, containing both successful
artistic risks and ineffective narrative homages. Steven Soderbergh
has for years been one of the most experimental directors
working in the mainstream, never afraid to try something new
and fail (which he does often.) In this film, he succeeds
at recreating the aesthetics of a 1940's Hollywood picture,
but is less successful at telling a compelling noir story.
In 1945, Berlin
was in the process of being divided between the victorious
Allies after World War II. On the eve of the historic Potsdam
conference, American military journalist Jake Geismer (George
Clooney) becomes involved in a murder investigation involving
his young driver Tully (Tobey Maguire) and his former mistress
Lena (Cate Blanchett.)
Visually, the
film is successful in recreating the look and feel of a 1940's
era Hollywood film. Soderbergh utilized antique lenses and
cameras to make the movie, and the soft focus black and white,
obvious rear projection driving scenes, audio fidelity, and
Thomas Newman's orchestral score all work well to take the
film back to the decade in which it took place. Even shots
that never would have made it past censors, such as Maguire
and Blanchett's sex scene, are made in a style that one can
image they would have been sixty years ago. This aesthetic
time warp is also aided by the old-fashioned star quality
both Clooney and Blanchett possess. I wouldn't be the first
to compare Clooney to Cary Grant, though I can't quite put
my finger on which Golden Era star Cate Blanchett most resembles.
As skillfully
as Soderbergh recreated the aura of a classic film, The
Good German was equally unsuccessful in making the plot
and characters engaging. This noir mystery had a lot of potential,
being set against postwar Germany, but despite the obvious
influence of such key films as Touch of Evil, Double
Indemnity, and The Third Man, Soderbergh's effort
falls short of its possible greatness. Part of this failure
comes from a failure to establish characters that draw the
audience into the story, as well as a lack of a compelling
plot. Even when the film starts to pick up momentum, it never
pays off with a dramatic climax, instead simply moving straight
from the buildup to an umbrella-covered, airplane-side homage
to Casablanca.
I have great respect
for Soderbergh in general, as one of the most experimental
directors working in mainstream Hollywood today. His vision
for The Good German was along these experimental
lines, in that he tried to recreate the aesthetic elements
of the period, but it's not his most inspired direction. It
is notable and should be categorized with his larger experimental
successes, like Schizopolis, Kafka, and
Traffic, though his direction on even his Hollywood
fluff films is usually better than this.
The Good German
is a stylistic exercise more than it is a coherent or successful
piece of cinema. If one enters into it expecting anything
more than a detailed recreation of an antique style, disappointment
will surely await. But as a throwback to a classic era, it
is highly successful, and fans of this type of filmmaking
will be delighted, at least by these elements.
