They Don’t Make’Em Like They Used To, Kid…

And that’s a damn shame because classic filmmaking was an art form to be reckoned with; faux classic filmmaking not so much.

I believe The Good German falls in the latter category, unfortunately, for director Steven Soderbergh, as able as he is, is not a classic filmmaker – he is a thoroughly modern maven. Thus I wish Soderbergh‘s latest offering had been a little less ostentatious and a little more proficient, a salute rather than whack at recreating a seemingly lost craft.

According to IMDb.com, The Good German was shot in black and white as if it had been made in 1945, exclusively on studio back lots, sets, and Los Angeles area locations. It was lit with only incandescent lights, which provided harsh, unnatural light, and shot using period lenses on the cameras. No wireless body microphones were used, and sound was recorded the old-fashioned way, with a hand-operated boom mic held above the actors’ heads, and the actors were directed to perform in a presentational, stage style.

It’s all very nice and dandy, but it’s too much style over substance.

As you can probably deduce, I was greatly disappointed in The Good German, an adaptation of Joseph Kanon's post-WWII novel (a thriller about star-crossed lovers George Clooney, a military journalist, and Cate Blanchett, the wife of a Nazi scientist, caught up in a conspiracy and a murder mystery).

I will say, however, that the movie gets better in the back half, which is rather unusual. But it’s almost a case of too little, too late, given that for the first 20 minutes I found myself wondering what was going on with these people, why Clooney kept getting beaten around, and why Tobey Maguire felt terribly wrong as a morally bankrupt marketer.

Once the all the pieces had been introduced, though, it was somewhat engrossing to try and sort through the intrigue and put them together, and not just admire how beautiful they made The Good German look.

That, and Blanchett, of who I am in an increasing state of awe, is glorious. But that’s as good as it gets with this movie.

My Rating **

Photo: Warner Bros.