Evening

Closer has just opened here in South Africa and with today being hot as hell + still on a Golden Globes high I thought it was a good time to finally check it out.

So…

For over a decade I have considered her acting in Beautiful Girls as her best, with Leon and ABH not far behind. Well step aside Marty, Alice is here. For the first time there were moments where I actually forgot I was watching Natalie. You guys don’t know how long I’ve been praying to see her test herself with a role and material like this. A couple years back I was even wondering if she would ever take something really risky again and if she got a meaty role, if she’d be able to do it justice. Well she did more than do it justice. She knocked it out of the park.

What a wonderful character. Playful and cute and sexy and confident and vulnerable…what a joy. Plus she’s never looked better.

And the film itself? Well it’s going to be really tough for me to decide on my fav film of 2004 (I count the first couple weeks of Jan as 2004). Lost in Translation, Before Sunset, Eternal Sunshine and now Closer. Notice the common thread? Relationships.

But Closer is a totally different beast than those other films. It shows the darker side of love and lust and I found it fascinating and enthralling from the Blower’s Daughter to Blowers Daughter.

I liked Garden State a helluva lot but, IMO, it doesn’t even come close (heh) to Closer.

Regardless, and I’ve said this before, this is a very exciting time to be a Nat fan. Long may it continue.

Now let me get to that update.