The Good German

By: Andrew Moran

5 Stars out of 5 Stars – Best film of the year!

Starring (Alphabetical Order): Cate Blanchett, Beau Bridges, George Clooney, Tony Curran, Ravil Isaynov, Toby Maguire, Christian Oliver, Leland Orsor & Dave Power

Based on the novel by Joseph Kanon, 'The Good German' takes place in the ruins of post-WWII Berlin, where U.S. Army war correspondent Jake Geismar (George Clooney) becomes embroiled with Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett), a former lover who is trying to escape her past in the aftermath of the war. Intrigue mounts as Jake tries to uncover the secrets Lena may be hiding in her desperation to get out of Berlin. Tully (Tobey Maguire), a soldier in the American army motor pool assigned to drive Jake around the city, has black market connections that may be Lena’s way out –or lead them all into even darker territory.

The Good German is, without question, the best film of the year.  This film is simply homage to the classics of Carol Reed’s ‘The Thin Man’, Orson Welles’ techniques with the shadows in such films as ‘The Stranger’ & ‘Citizen Kane’ and an ending that was relatively similar to the ending in Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.

This film was perfect in everyway. I don’t want to sound blunt here but I have to. To me this film was artistic masturbation in every way.  With the low-angle shots in the evening and the dark shadows with the cigarette smoke in the air.  The beauty of Cate Blanchett (The Aviator & Veronica Guerin), the charm of George Clooney (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind & Good Night, and Good Luck) and a whodunit storyline set in Post-War Berlin.

Steven Soderbergh (Traffic & Erin Brockovich), who is a modern-day Billy Wilder, is probably the only great director of this generation.  He also edited and photographed this film with the names of Mary-Anne Bernard and Peter Andrews. Soderbergh doesn’t generally like to waste times conferring with a cinematographer and he doesn’t even use monitors on his films.  He says, “If it looks good in the eye-piece then you know what you have.”

Thomas Newman’s score was absolutely terrific with the types of sound you’d hear out of Maltese Falcon or North by Northwest.  Actually I read this on a discussion board, “His father, Alfred Newman, was a composer of the 30s and 40s--receiving a total of 45 Oscar nominations.”

As with the Good Shepherd, this film has some slow-points even when that happens you just watch the camera work and the lighting in the film.  But these ‘slow-points’ hardly ever happen.

Overall, this was the best film of the year!  This film had everything you’d want out of a 40’s film and a modern film.  I really enjoy a picture that has a whodunit and amazing camera texture, which you can hardly get out of a North American cameraman.  But this, in my opinion, should get definitely Best Director & Best Cinematography! As stated above, this motion picture is simply artistic masturbation.