Two Lovers (2008)

Two Lovers: Directed by James Gray. With Joaquin Phoenix, Anne Joyce, Elliot Villar, Craig Walker. A Brooklyn-set romantic drama about a bachelor torn between the family friend his parents wish he would marry and his beautiful but volatile new neighbor.

“James Grayu0026#39;s latest film tells the tale of Leonard Kraditor (Joaquin Phoenix), a man who had a problematic break-up with his fiancée two years ago, and has since been heading down a suicidal road. 4-months into living back home with his anxious parents (played by Moni Moshonov and Isabella Rossellini) and helping out at his fatheru0026#39;s dry-cleaning business, Leonard is introduced to Sandra (Vinessa Shaw), a sweet daughter of his fatheru0026#39;s business friend. Wearing her heart on her sleeve, Leonard has moments of true spark with her, and you can see his eyes changing away from the torment inside. A woman is surely the right thing for Leonard, as he carves through the days with a worn-out heart and a mind in loneliness. Soon after meeting Sandra, he befriends Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow), a beautiful but messed-up girl thatu0026#39;s dating her married boss (played by Elias Koteas). With her, Leonard sees an escape, and a burning romance. Leonardu0026#39;s mind is now set on two women, and he finds himself torn between them.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eJames Gray hadnu0026#39;t really impressed me with his earlier films, for me they all lacked out on the intensity and became standard crime-thrillers. With his latest melodramatic romance, he really surprised me; he does a caring job directing the three performers, and he tells a strange and tender story. The music of the film is Jewish guitar-instrumentals that are carefully intertwined, but most of the film has got a blanket of quiet bleakness, and itu0026#39;s covering every little corner.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe performances of Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw are great, and although the two never share screen-space, director Gray naturally and carefully shifts between the two lives Leonard is living, and so the two of them add lovely pieces to the story. But itu0026#39;s in-between the double relationship the film and its protagonist is living, the film has to connect, and it couldnu0026#39;t have been done better than by Joaquin Phoenix. Leonard is a suicidal depressive that enters human-bounding and the give u0026amp; receive of it, and this is a very difficult character to portray – but just look at Phoenix, he is phenomenal; the incredible naturalism of it shows Phoenix in the performance of his career.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe melancholy of the film doesnu0026#39;t make it for the dominant audience, but Iu0026#39;ve never even cared a bit for that, and itu0026#39;s a delight that romance on screen can be thrown upon like this. u0026#39;Two Loversu0026#39; is a small film with a heart thatu0026#39;s full of rare atmosphere, the form of it is tearing and in center, a superb Joaquin Phoenix.”