The Good
Night
By JUSTIN
CHANG
Sweet
dreams, indeed. As becalmed and refreshing as
a good night's sleep, writer-director Jake Paltrow's
first feature delves assuredly into the mind
of a lost soul who literally encounters the
woman of his dreams. Though its forays into
the subconscious may strike more adventurous
cinematic palettes as precious and unimaginative,
few will be able to resist Martin Freeman's
appealing lead turn or the wry Brit wit that
gives this fanciful confection a robust comic
core. Given the right push emphasizing its marquee
names, "The Good Night" could hit
sleeper status.
Compared to David Lynch's convulsive dreamscapes
and Michel Gondry's "The Science of Sleep"
- all films that seek to strand the viewer in
an impenetrable chain of dream logic -- "The
Good Night's" fascination with hallucination
and reverie doesn't go much deeper than the
surface level. Fortunately, it's an enchanting
surface that doesn't wear out its welcome for
a good 93 minutes.
Puzzling
mock-doc prologue introduces a trio of characters
discussing the life of sad-sack musician Gary
Sheller in tones of hushed regret. Of the three,
only Paul ("Shaun of the Dead's" Simon
Pegg) plays a part in the story that follows,
set two years earlier.
Gary (Freeman)
is a thirtysomething Londoner now living in
New York, a nice but hapless bloke with all
the detritus of a movie midlife crisis. Since
his band broke up seven years ago, he has eked
out a living scoring TV commercials, to the
increasing chagrin of his mildly depressive
live-in girlfriend Dora (the helmer's sister,
Gwyneth Paltrow). Even worse, Gary's friend
and former bandmate, Paul, is doing quite well
for himself in an advertising career.
Given Dora's
irritable demeanor and Gary's tendency to aggravate
it by saying exactly the wrong thing, it's no
surprise that their love life is mutually unsatisfying.
So when Gary starts having recurring dreams
about a beguiling mystery woman (Penelope Cruz)
who seems to offer more of herself to him every
night, they have a rejuvenating effect. Wanting
more, he takes an active interest in lucid dreaming
- the act of becoming aware of and even controlling
one's dream state - getting all sorts of tips
from a New Age-y, self-styled expert (an amusing
Danny DeVito).
Gary's growing
obsession with manipulating his nocturnal entertainment
- he sound-proofs his bedroom and gets cranky
whenever he's awakened mid-dream - doesn't improve
his relationship with Dora; somehow, even Paul's
foolhardy dalliances in cybersex manage to widen
the rift. Eventually Dora announces they need
time apart and jets off to Venice, leaving Gary
to indulge his fantasies to the fullest.
But after
a wide-awake Gary sees Anna's face plastered
on the side of a bus, he soon learns she's a
real-life model (whose actual name, Melodia,
strikes a rather obvious note), and Paul all
too conveniently books her for a commercial.
The foundation for Gary's discovery and face-to-face
meeting with his fantasy lover isn't particularly
well-laid, but by this point, the script has
set a fascinating structural dilemma for itself,
and Gary and Melodia's waking interactions easily
compel one's interest and anticipation.
Subsequent
plot turns are anything but predictable, and
the tale begins to take on a quiet gravity as
Gary's fantasy life is increasingly infected
by his reality. The moving denouement is both
a testament to the power and necessity of dreams
and a bittersweet acknowledgment of their limitations.
With so
many first-time helmers lately piling on the
flash and visual gimmickry, the measured pacing
and almost crystalline purity of Jake Paltrow's
direction can't help but come as a soothing
relief. The filmmaking is arguably too tasteful
at times; intriguing as they are, Gary's dream
sequences are absent any real sense of mystery
or danger, and the use of stately fade-ins and
fade-outs as delineating markers leads to some
rhythmic awkwardness. In "The Science of
Sleep," dreams and reality blurred together
inscrutably; here, they exist opaquely side-by-side.
Best known
Stateside for "The Hitchhiker's Guide to
the Galaxy" and the BBC's "The Office,"
Freeman carries the movie in his sleep, so to
speak, showing terrific leading-man chops in
a delightfully shaggy, self-effacing role. Continuing
her dowdy-brunette look from "Running With
Scissors," Gwyneth Paltrow comes through
with a prickly, witty characterization that,
despite a maudlin streak, occasionally lets
the sun peek through.
Supporting
perfs are similarly well handled. Looking as
ravishing as she did in "Volver" (with
no small help from Verity Hawkes' splendid costumes,
including one striking white tux), Cruz breaks
her so-called English-language curse with a
role that requires her to be seductive and not
much else. Needless to say, she acquits herself
admirably. And Pegg, with his crack comic timing,
pockets every other scene as Gary's lovable
bastard of a best friend.
Production
design is aces, the predominantly gray scheme
of Gary and Dora's dreary apartment providing
a "Wizard of Oz"-like contrast with
the vivid colors and textures of the film's
dreamscape; Giles Nuttgen's cinematography astutely
follows in kind. Alec Puro's unobtrusively melodic
score, which incorporating a tender composition
Gary writes late in the picture, plays an especially
significant role.
Gotham-set
pic was largely filmed in London -- a disjunction
that, given the film's Anglophilic bent, almost
makes sense.
Camera (color), Giles Nuttgens; editor, Rick
Lawley; music, Alec Puro; production designer,
Eve Stewart; art directors, Leon McCarthy, Lisa
McDiarmid; costume designer, Verity Hawkes;
sound (Dolby Digital), Tony Dawe; supervising
sound editor, Richard E. Yawn; visual effects
supervisors, Charley Henley, Richard Stammers;
stunt coordinator, Jim Dowdall; associate producer,
Wolfgang Shamburg; assistant director, Nick
Heckstall-Smith; casting, Nina Gold. Reviewed
at Sundance Film Festival (Premieres), Jan.
25, 2007. Running time: 93 MIN.
(English, Italian dialogue)
Read
the full article at: variety.com
