Two Lovers

TWO LOVERS is a brilliant film: a masterpiece by its director James Gray. Gray's images within the film are so eerie and textile, so evocative and persuasive of his vision, that I was lost within it, clamoring at all sides in order to make sense of it, or understand what I was looking at. Gray's spectral masterpiece stars Joaquin Phoenix in a brilliant role that I can only describe as a man living in our century but with the sentimentality of a cowboy. Phoenix appears as if he's sleeping while he's awake sometimes, and always plans out how he wants things to go. He sees his neighbor he has been interested in at the subway station. He pretends to look at a map while moving closer to her so that she will notice him. He's a strange man, quiet and introspective, but then at a nightclub he shines, and then returns to the vastness of the crowd. His lovable parents (Isabella Rossellini & Moni Moshonov) want him to be happy, and set up a practically arranged marriage with fellow dry cleaner owners. The daughter of the fellow dry cleaner owners is not boring though, which most films assign to the role in order to make us side heavily on one side. But Vinessa Shaw as the girl is extremely pretty, interesting, and pleasant. But Phoenix's character Leonard has been going after his neighbor who is into drugs and involved with a married man. She's played by Gwyneth Paltrow in one of her best roles: not showing us that, 'hey I'm Gwyneth Paltrow and let me show you my action side in IRON MAN 2'. Leonard is possibly suicidal, contradicts his nature at strange times, and plays opera music. Gray's images and subtext immerse Phoenix within the unique role, and the film is a wonder to behold.
Two Lovers: ★★★★