Relationships are Never Easy (Closer (DVD))

Member Name: sewbizzie

Product:	Closer (DVD)
Date:	27/08/09 (103 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great acting, good story

Disadvantages: May get a bit confusing for some, a lot of strong language and sex talk

I really could not make up my mind if I wanted to see this film or not but I think the deciding factor for me was Jude law and Julia Roberts. I have to say that not knowing what to expect from this film I was indeed very surprised by it.

The plot is somewhat different to any film I have seen before. There are 4 main characters, Dan who writes Obituaries for a living and is just releasing a book, Anna who is a photographer, Larry a Dermatologist and Alice who used to be a stripper but is now working as a waitress.

At the start of the film we see Dan and Alice meeting each other and instantly falling for one another and then we move to a year later when Dan is off having his photograph taken for the cover of his new book when he meets Alice. Alice is divorced and she and Dan instantly find an attraction between themselves but Alice rejects Dan when she finds he has a girlfriend. Dan thinks he is getting his own back on Anna by making a date with a stranger over a sex chat website but when Anna meets Larry, the guy who made the date, they end up having a relationship.

The film moves on another 3-4 years then and we see just how these relationships have moved on and how the couples are finding being together. Will the relationships still be the same or will there be some adultery and game playing between the two couples?

At the start of this film I did find it a bit confusing when it moved through the years as there was no real indication as to the time frame which was meant to have passed, we only found out through some little thing which one of the characters would say. I did however manage to continue to follow the story with a lot of concentration. I found the storyline to be good and very different from anything else which I have seen before.

The fact that this film is only based around 4 characters may make it seem quite boring but I can say that I did not find this. I did however think that all the events were a little too unrealistic as to the extent that they happened, don't get me wrong I do know that people have affairs and fall for other people instantly but it was quite far fetched at times.

The characters were all very good in the film and my favourite was Jude Law who played Dan, he was a first quite sweet and innocent but as the film progressed we did get to see a lot of different sides to him. Julia Roberts took the role of Anna and I think she did a great job and I liked how her character was quite hard to read and she kept her cards close to her chest. Natalie Portman played the role of Alice and she as very good and I liked how she was quite lively and fun and the complete opposite of Anna. She worked very well with Jude Law and they had a great on screen chemistry. The one character in the film which I did like at first was Larry, played by Clive Own, at the start of the film he was a nice polite Doctor and had a lot of respect for Anna but as the film went on I started to see a completely different side to him and found him to be very arrogant and nasty.

The film was set in London in the present time so not much attention was needed to the settings and scenery , all which e did see was appropriate and fitted well into the film. The music throughout the film was good although none of the tracks really stood out I did find it appropriate for the places which it was used.

There was a lot of sex talk and language in this film but I did not get offended by this and both me and hubby both had a good laugh at the conversation which was held on line when Dan was trying to set Anna up. I do not recommend anyone under the age of 15 watching this film. This film does have a 15 certificate anyway. The running time of this film is 1 hour and 40 minutes and I did find that this was quite long enough.

The DVD which we have does not have any bonus features but this in no loss to me as I am not a fan of them anyway. I managed to get this DVD for just £3 in Tesco's which I felt was a bargain.

I am going to recommend this film as it gives a good and different insight into relationships but do not watch if you are easily offended by bad language and sex talk.

Summary: 4 people show us the path of their relationships