MICHAEL CLAYTON

Director: Tony Gilroy (Directorial Debut, screenwriter for Bourne films, and ahem, Armageddon)
Starring: TV's Dr. Ross, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Sydney Pollack

With little time for reviewing, or even movie-watching lately, I'll try and write a few words about a film I saw weeks ago. This is assuming I can even remember the plot after this much time. Luckily, Michael Clayton was a thoroughly engaging movie, so it's stuck out in my mind, even after weeks have passed.

Lawyers, it seems to me (from Atticus Finch to whatever John Travolta's character's name was in A Civil Action), seem to be perfectly suited to movie star performances rather than character acting. If you don't know what I mean by 'movie-star performances' I'm talking about roles defined by the charisma of the actors playing them. I'm talking Tom Hanks and Jimmy Stewart, George Clooney and Cary Grant. Lawyers at least in film, often have to go in front of a jury and be charming. They have to compel the jury. They have to politick and convince others. Hence The Cloon is a fine choice for this role. He gives a wonderful 'movie-star' performance as a world-weary lawyer looking for more in his life. In their supporting roles (and as character-roles, I'll add) Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack do an even better job.

This particular lawyer (like most real lawyers I'll add) rarely enters a courtroom. This particular lawyer is called a 'cleaner' in the film. It's his job to handle legal crises within his gargantuan New York fim. The plot is a thriller revolving around a lawyer who cracks (Wilkinson) and goes from defending a huge corporation to attempting to bring it down. The heart of this film however, is about The Cloon, struggling financially, emotionally, and morally with his life. It's a character study of a selfish man, morally weak, but not feeble. He understands that he's a little man manipulated by far bigger ones. Perhaps he's struggling between embracing the system , cowering from the system, or trying to fight it. Although, whatever his struggle he seems willing enough to profit from the system.

Surprisingly perhaps, he doesn't have an epiphany and then bravely stand up and fight the good fight - at least until he has no other choice. It's a wonderful portrait of a flawed man and what it took for him to learn to be better. He's a bit of a charlatan who is entirely willing to steal as long as the thefts were masked by enough layers of complexity that it doesn't obviously look like stealing to him. How many people would steal an online mp3, but not a candy bar from a rack on a store? Is there a difference? Nope, but the two crimes 'feel' different to the theives. To Clooney's lawyer there is a marginally corrupt system set up to enrich him and his type. His crimes are barely crimes at all, he simply looks the other way and doesn't think about the downside. He's probably even convinced himself that he's not wrong at all. Only when the crimes begin to get more serious (murder?), is Clooney forced to look more closely at himself. He was a man grudgingly willing to sell his ethics for personal gain. In the end he becomes a whistleblower and does the right thing, not because he knew it was right, but because he was left few other choices. It's a wonderful portrait of a conflicted, weak little man.

The plot that pulls this character portrait along involves Tilda Swinton as a CEO of a Con-Agra type global agro-business. Her company put unsafe products out in the market and tangentially some people died from it. Tilda Swinton didn't walk out of her house and kill a child with a gun. There were many layers of complexity between her decisions and a child's death. So she could hide her immorality underneath it all, at least until we see how far she's willing to go to coverup the intial crime. In some ways this is like Watergate. We see how the coverup step-by-step becomes far worse than the original crime. Eventually Clooney is forced to confront the corrupt executive and bring her down, but only after he himself is facing the gun. It's a terrific portrait of the billions of weak little humans who will sell morality for profit. There may be billions of better people out there, but there are a whole heck of a lot worse as well.

Standouts: Writing, acting, directing. A wonderful film.
Blowouts: Like many, many films these days it's a little too enraptured with the flaws in people. Almost to the point where we're not always sure if the movie agrees that they are in fact "flaws".

Grade: A