The Good German

Starring: George Clooney, Tobey Maguire, Cate Blanchett, Beau Bridges, John Roeder, Jack Thompson, Dominic Comperatore, Tony Curran, Ravil Issyanov

Written by: Paul Attanasio Based on the novel by Joseph Kanon

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures

Rated: R

Steven Soderbergh is one of those rare directors who excels at all ends of the commercial spectrum. He’s no stranger to big screen success with films like Ocean’s Eleven, but he’s also made a respectable name for himself in smaller films of more artistic substance. Schizopolis, Full Frontal and Bubble were all experimental in distinctly different ways. Soderbergh continues the latter tradition with The Good German, a nearly authentic throwback to the hardboiled mystery films of the 1940s.

Where other directors have tried and failed to mimic the 40s film style, Soderbergh seems to have succeeded via an honest respect for the films to which he’s paying homage. In making The Good German, Soderbergh tried to stay as authentic as possible to 1940s-era film making, even limiting himself to the types of lenses, lights and microphones available back then.

Based on a Joseph Kanon novel from 2003, The Good German tells the story of the murder of a U.S. serviceman in Berlin in 1945, just days before the historic Potsdam Conference that would split the world up between the U.S. and the USSR for the next half-century. George Clooney plays Jake Geismer, an American journalist returning to Berlin to cover the conference. Tobey Maguire plays his driver Tully, who, it turns out, is dating Geismer’s ex-lover, Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett with a convincingly German accent). When it becomes apparent that Lena is wanted by both the U.S. and the Russians, Geismer learns that it has something to do with her mysterious husband Emil. It’s a compelling mystery that grows satisfyingly complicated before the end credits roll.

For all the 1940s feel that Soderbergh breathed into the film, the most interesting element by far is the performances he was able to bring out in the cast. There’s very little subtlety here. It’s somewhat refreshing to see Clooney, whose style always seemed kind of Bogart-like, in a more natural cinematic habitat. Blanchett plays a convincing Garbo to Clooney’s Bogey. Though he bows out of the film relatively early, Maguire is a surprise treat as a U.S. serviceman who plays it clean and wholesome for the general public, but is actually cruel and abusive. It’s chilling. Maguire’s never played anything nearly this dark, and it’s almost pleasantly disturbing to see his typical wholesomeness slowly bent and twisted beyond all recognition. VS