|
|
Two Lovers is a 2009 American romantic d...
Rating:0- Views:1017 |
|
|
Possession is an upcoming psychological ...
Rating:0- Views:3218 |
|
|
Duplicity is an upcoming American spy-th...
Rating:0- Views:1295 |
|
|
The Musketeer is a Peter Hyams film very...
Rating:0- Views:1053 |
|
|
Ron Howard Frost Nixon 2009 HD Trailer F...
Rating:0- Views:2364 |
|
|
Kit Kittredge An American Girl is a 2008...
Rating:0- Views:1723 |
Two Lovers is a 2009 American romantic drama film, loosely based on
Dostoevsky's "White Nights" starring Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow,
and Vinessa Shaw. It is directed by James Gray and set in a largely Russian
Jewish neighborhood Brighton Beach in New York, much like Gray's first film
Little Odessa. It premiered in competition at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival
in May. This film is Gray's third to enter the competition at this
festival. It was released theatrically limited on February 13, 2009. Plot
The film starts with Leonard (Phoenix) walking along a walkway over the
Sheepshead Bay creek in Brooklyn with dry cleaning when he drops the
clothing and jumps into the ocean in an attempted suicide. He changes his
mind and surfaces to be helped by random passerbys. After walking home to
his parents apartment and his mother seeing him dripping wet it becomes
evident that Leonard has had emotional problems and had tried to kill
himself before.
His parents tell him that a potential business partner and his family are
invited for dinner. When they arrive Leonard finds out that he had been set
up with the other families' daughter, Sandra (Shaw). He hits it off with
Sandra and tells her how he had been engaged several years before but the
relationship broke off because genetic counselling showed that he and his
fiancee could not have had healthy children.
A few days later, Leonard meets a new neighbor Michelle (Paltrow) in his
apartment building hall. He is immediately attracted to her and spends time
with her and goes out on the town with her and her friends. He finds out
that she is dating a married partner in her law firm, Ronald (Koteas).
Leonard later meets Ronald and Michelle for dinner at an upscale restaurant
in the city. He goes home upset but then Sandra surprises him at home where
they have sex. The next day he tells Michelle he no longer wants to see her
and becomes further involved in a relationship with Sandra.
After a while he is asked to photograph Sandra's brother's Bar Mitzvah.
Afterward, Michelle calls him upset and says that she is sick. He takes
Michelle to the hospital where she is treated for a miscarriage. She had
not known she was pregnant. Then he takes her home and while talking to
her, Ronald unexpectedly arrives. Leonard hides behind a door while Ronald
apologizes to Michelle for not having come to the hospital and that he was
going on a trip to London for two weeks.
Two weeks later Michelle calls Leonard and meets him on the roof and tells
him that had broken off the relationship with Ronald and is going to San
Francisco. Leonard tells her not to go because he loves her but agrees that
he will go with her the next day. He buys two tickets online, buys an
engagement ring and packs for his trip. The next day, during his parents
New Year's Eve party, he ducks out to the courtyard to meet Michelle where
she tells him that she isn't going to San Francisco because Ronald had left
his wife and will marry Michelle. Distraught, Leonard heads out to the
beach apparently to kill himself. As he steps in the ocean, he drops a
glove that Sandra had bought for him earlier. He picks up the glove,
returns to the party, and seeing Sandra gives her the ring.
Reception
The film has received generally positive reviews from critics. Rotten
Tomatoes reported that 85% of critics gave positive reviews based on 82
reviews. Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film
received a 75% approval rating based on 28 reviews. Ray Bennett from The
Hollywood Reporter defined the film as "an old-fashioned love story in
which the melodramatic trapdoors of shock and surprise never open" and
added that the film "will please many and it may win awards", though "the
acting is (...) restrained." He also lauded the film as "a throwback to the
days when love in the movies involved the mind as well as the heart."
Cast
* Joaquin Phoenix as Leonard Kraditor
* Gwyneth Paltrow as Michelle Rausch
* Vinessa Shaw as Sandra Cohen
* Isabella Rossellini as Mrs. Ruth Kraditor
* Moni Moshonov as Mr. Reuben Kraditor
* Elias Koteas as Ronald Blatt
* Bob Ari as Mr. Michael Cohen
* Julie Budd as Mrs. Carol Cohen
|