TWO LOVERS
Directed by James Gray
Produced by Gray, Anthony Katagas & Donna Gigliotti
Written by James Gray & Richard Menello
Released by Magnolia Pictures
USA. 108 min. Rated R
With Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw, Moni Moshonov, Isabella Rossellini & Elias Koteas 
 

Joaquin Phoenix has a real knack for frustrating an audience, doesn’t he? On screen, his memorable portrayals bring to life those human complexities that cause his characters to often flirt with the right decisions rather than actually make them. Two Lovers finds this distinctive actor as tormented as ever playing Leonard, a first-generation American diagnosed with bi-polar disorder who works part-time at his father’s dry-cleaning business, when he’s not snapping black-and-white landscape photos. Battling his suicidal depression and multiple setbacks in his personal life, he stays with his parents in their modest apartment. Leonard’s temperament is complicated and not easily understood, but, like most of us, he seems to be affected mostly by the romantic turns in his life.

Despite having directed few films (four over a 14-year span), James Gray has shown a comprehensive knowledge of cinema conventions, and in Two Lovers, he skillfully examines the time-tested love triangle. Leonard becomes involved with Sandra, a girl-next-door type—whose father is a family business associate—and Michelle, the actual girl next door, a recovering pharmaceutical addict in a relationship with a rich, married lawyer. The two women could be a metaphor for Leonard’s condition. One is safe and boring, the other impulsive and dangerous. Leonard bounces between the two, seemingly making the wrong choice at nearly every opportunity, but where an interior struggle would have been far less interesting, both Phoenix and Gray work hard here to bring Leonard’s emotional conflict to the surface. His perpetual dysfunction is still frustrating, but in a more fascinating way.

Gray’s first film, Little Odessa, won a Silver Lion at Venice in 1994. His last three were each official selections at Cannes and starred Mr. Phoenix, who, continuing to frustrate, recently made the grandiose announcement that his appearance in Two Lovers would be his final film role. At 34, he is apparently retiring from acting, and, as evidenced by his recent appearance with David Letterman, is perhaps having a difficult time with the transition.

Two Lovers takes place in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, a cinematic favorite both for its cadre of “white” ethnicities (Russian, Jewish, Greek) and its proximity to the iconic Coney Island. The influence of greats such as Francis Ford Coppola is apparent most in Gray’s signature attention to his settings, including unique physical and cultural details. Gray’s in love with the neighborhood atmosphere of the outer boroughs, and whether it shapes his plot or dictates the minutiae of his production design (Leonard and Michelle’s serendipitous meeting on an elevated train platform or an argument on a rooftop), the affair is a healthy one.

Leonard’s manic quirks are indeed eccentric, perhaps even making this a borderline weird film, but the familiarities of the story and the organic details keep it accessible enough. Again, there are universalities in these tempestuous relationships. You’ll feel Joaquin Phoenix’s performance as deeply as you will any other this year, and by the final scenes, his odd motivations actually do make some sense. Essentially, it’s a dark film, and for all his insight, Gray has a bitter sense of irony. The more recognizable Leonard’s life gets, the more depressing it becomes. Michael Lee
February 20, 2009