Release Date: 02/27/09 (Limited)
Two Lovers, written and directed by James Gray (We Own The Night), is a romantic drama set in Brooklyn, New York. James Gray is a director to keep an eye on; he continues to aspire as a filmmaker as he makes original films that are always set in New York City similar to Woody Allen of the 70′s and 80′s. This old school romance story is very entertaining and contains some solid performances especially from its lead actor Joaquin Phoenix.
Two Lovers tells the story of Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix), a charming but depressed young man who has moved back in with his parents following a recent breakup. Leonard works part-time at his father’s dry-cleaners as a delivery boy. His concerned and very Jewish parents set him up with Sandra (Vinessa Shaw), the sweet and caring daughter of a family friend. Leonard arranges to see her, but then late one night Leonard stumbles into the view of a lovely young woman named Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow), who he has never seen before. She has recently moved into an apartment in Leonard family’s building, an apartment that is paid for by the wealthy married man (Elias Koteas) who she’s been seeing. This sets up the plot for a very interesting and unpredictable romantic drama.
James Gray does a great job with this film of character development and that is why I think it works so well, you really get to know all the characters and what they are feeling. The story is also very old school and simple but still he keeps it entertaining. When we get to the conclusion it is not cliché at all. He gives a fresh look to the romantic drama genre and it makes for the first real good drama of 2009.
The performances were also surprisingly very convincing. The gorgeous Vinessa Shaw has a small but pivotal role in this film and she does a great job. Gwyneth Paltrow, who was pretty good in Iron Man last year, gives one of her most impressive performances in a long time. She pulls off the beautiful but ditsy character very well and her relationship with Phoenix and Koteas was very believable. Then there was Joaquin Phoenix who really takes a hold of the film and moves it along. He shows how talented of an actor he can really be and I think it was his best performance since Walk the Line in 2005. He embodies the bipolar yet still charismatic personality of Leonard perfectly. Hopefully his rap career is all a joke because it would be a shame not seeing him show off these talents anymore on film. Let’s hope.
Two Lovers as a whole was a very nice surprise early on in 2009. Solid performances, superb direction, and an amusing old school story make for a movie that will get stamped in my book as first great movie of the year.
Imdb: 7.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Moviewiseguys: 8.0/10
MADE!!!
