The Good German, He Said

Black and white film, quirky music circa 1940's, scene framing you haven't seen in years and a flash back to Casablanca, these and many more make The Good German a disturbing film to watch. Oh Yes, the subject matter of the script is also kind of disturbing , but only mildly.

Seeing George Clooney as a clone of Humphrey Bogart in this recreation of a 1940's genre film, but to see Cate Blanchett in the place of Ingrid Bergman was amazing, but it was the bump that knocked the baby out of the buggy. By that I mean that the techniques Steven Soderbergh used might have been fun and somewhat entertaining, they did not enhance the story or frame the characters in this film. Instead they distracted the viewer from the plot.

In trying to resolve the complicated and end the film, Soderbergh recreates the final scene from Casablanca. All of this is...well cute. But did this script deserve better from it's director? I think so.

and wicked jeep driver, played by Tobey Clooney famous for his playing the cool and unbeatable outsider, who somehow is always inside, fights the military in it's attempt to cover up a murder because it might upset the delicate Potsdam Conference which decided the fate of Europe. The story is compelling and Clooney and Blanchett do have what critic's like to call "chemistry", I like to call believability. She is his former lover when he was a bureau chief in prewar Berlin. Returning after the fall of the third Reich, he finds her through his connivingMaquire.

This drama takes us into the intrigue of international politics's and the ugly part of making piece and just for the record what kind of mind set got us into the Cold War. Again the story is worth telling, the lesson is worth learning, again. Unfortunately the story teller is distracting us with tricks.