Joaquin Phoenix’s decision to leave acting and pursue a career in hip hop music could well be the worst decision he has made in his life. Watch Two Lovers, and I am sure that you’ll agree with me. Phoenix’s portrayal of a broken man trying to pick up the pieces of his broken heart is more than superb. He successfully captured the character of Leonard, a man with bipolar disorder who, after being dumped by his fiancee, finds himself involved with two beautiful women. The film revolves around how Leonard is torn between pursuing the sexually alluring but destructively impetuous Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow) and the simple (but not plain) and caring Sandra (Vinessa Shaw).
If it were another actor who portrayed Leonard, the film probably would have come out as mediocre with a cliched storyline, which is drab in the first place. I am not discrediting Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw, these two actresses made remarkable performance here, but the film is based on the character of Leonard, and Pheonix successfully made this gloomy and complicated character shine for the audience.
Gwyneth Paltrow has shown us in the 2003 film Sylvia that she is capable of portraying a troubled and destructive character. So, it is not really a surprise to see her in Two Lovers effectively giving us the not so common but believable character of Michelle, a manipulative woman who is losing control of herself and on her way to self destruction. Vinessa Shaw also gave justice to the character of Sandra, the exact opposite of Michelle.
There is a little flaw in the storyline, though: how could two beautiful women fall for a very gloomy loser like Leonard in the first place? But this little flaw will melt in the light of the great acting of Pheonix, which is perfectly complemented by the performances of Paltrow and Shaw. Â Despite that weakness in the storyline, it somehow manages to slowly build up and thicken into something interesting enough: how would Leonard extricate himself fom the predicament he’s entangled himself with? Would he opt for the reasonable way out, or would he allow the messy hand of love to crush him? I rate the movie 7 out of 10, it is a good movie to watch with your date.
Two Lovers
by Gumer Liston February 25th, 2009 |Movie Commentary
If it were another actor who portrayed Leonard, the film probably would have come out as mediocre with a cliched storyline, which is drab in the first place. I am not discrediting Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw, these two actresses made remarkable performance here, but the film is based on the character of Leonard, and Pheonix successfully made this gloomy and complicated character shine for the audience.
Gwyneth Paltrow has shown us in the 2003 film Sylvia that she is capable of portraying a troubled and destructive character. So, it is not really a surprise to see her in Two Lovers effectively giving us the not so common but believable character of Michelle, a manipulative woman who is losing control of herself and on her way to self destruction. Vinessa Shaw also gave justice to the character of Sandra, the exact opposite of Michelle.
There is a little flaw in the storyline, though: how could two beautiful women fall for a very gloomy loser like Leonard in the first place? But this little flaw will melt in the light of the great acting of Pheonix, which is perfectly complemented by the performances of Paltrow and Shaw. Â Despite that weakness in the storyline, it somehow manages to slowly build up and thicken into something interesting enough: how would Leonard extricate himself fom the predicament he’s entangled himself with? Would he opt for the reasonable way out, or would he allow the messy hand of love to crush him? I rate the movie 7 out of 10, it is a good movie to watch with your date.