52 Movies: Week 20 - Michael Clayton

I recently rewatched this 2007 film when I was in the mood one night for some sort of mystery or thriller and didn’t have anything new at hand. I don’t have the internet at home, and it was a bit late for a library or video store run. Looking through my small DVD collection, I grabbed this, knowing that it had been several years since I last watched it. I was not disappointed. Although I remembered most of the plot (perhaps because I did), many of the nuances of acting, direction and cinematography were more noticeable to me, and I came away from it with great admiration. Here was not just a quality thriller, but a very good film in its own right.

The plot chronicles the workings of a legal case involving a class action suit against a large Monsanto-like company called U-North for covering up the fact that one of its widely-used herbicides is carcinogenic. Attorney Michael Clayton (George Clooney) gets pulled into the intrigue due to the apparent mental breakdown of his friend and colleague Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), who is lead counsel for the firm defending U-North. Clayton is a “fixer,” a lawyer called upon by the firm to make their clients’ legal problems disappear (in a powerful scene near the beginning he’s called to the house of a wealthy client who’s been involved in a hit-and-run accident). He’s brought in to “look after” his colleague, but U-North becomes wary of Edens because of his seeming instability and puts its own general counsel, Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), on the case as well. Things escalate from there and Clayton soon discovers that there’s much more to the case than meets the eye.

This sounds, of course, like it could be the plot of any one of a number of thrillers of this sort, and plot-wise, that’s probably true. What makes Michael Clayton special is the execution. What’s immediately apparent is the seriousness of the approach. The viewer soon realizes that he’s not in standard thriller territory, even in the opening credits, as they feature a disjointed voiceover by someone you discover not long afterwards is Edens.

There is also the matter of the title. As Roger Ebert pointed out in his review, the fact that the film is named after the main character indicates that this is his story – the story of a man, as opposed to the standard plot-driven sort of thriller in which characters are often interchangeable.

Finally, both the script and directorial style lend to the movie’s dramatic feel. The writing is smart and realistic, and both the direction and camera-work, while exhibiting a certain amount of modern “stylishness,” are ultimately rather traditional. None of this should be taken to mean that the movie screams “Take me seriously!” or is in any sense either preachy or morose, however. Michael Clayton is neither a message movie nor an existential downer.

All of this is certainly praiseworthy, for debut director and long-time screenwriter Tony Gilroy especially. The movie both looks and feels great. But what really carries the film over into excellence is the cast. The performances here are uniformly outstanding, demonstrated by the fact that all three lead actors received Oscar nominations.

Clooney is perfect as Clayton, who’s a bundle of contradictions – tough but inwardly insecure, seemingly in control but secretly at the mercy of bad decisions. His speech, his face, even his body language all show a man who, having to portray strength outwardly due to the nature of his job, is the victim of inner turmoil. I haven’t seen all of Clooney’s movies, but of the ones I have seen, I’d say without reservation that this is his best dramatic performance, and he very much deserved the Oscar nomination.

The great British actor Tom Wilkinson is equally excellent as Edens, the bipolar lead attorney who’s a genius, but highly unstable when off his meds. The role requires Wilkinson to go back and forth between prideful condescension and manic moral crusaderism, and he pulls this off with great aplomb.

Finally, Tilda Swinton’s performance as Karen Crowder is simply genius, evinced by her winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, and just about every other equivalent award that year. It’s obvious from her opening scene that she is trying and just barely succeeding to hold everything together in her lonely personal life, while having constantly to put on her best front as the legal face of U-North. Some of the scenes in which she’s alone in her apartment preparing for “work” are positively chilling. The secondary cast members are all quite good as well, with special mention going to Sidney Pollack as the head of Clayton’s legal firm.

Director Gilroy and team have in Michael Clayton put together what is the best legal thriller of recent years, and possibly one of the best ever. What makes the film so good is that this is achieved not by flash and manufactured tension, but by intelligence, quality and humanity.

(The film is rated R for language, which includes a couple crude sexually explicit references. Thankfully, the latter are few.)

—Rob Grano has a degree in religious studies which he's put to good use working on the insurance side of the healthcare industry for the past 20 years.  He's published a number of book and music reviews, mostly in the small press, and sometimes has even gotten paid for it. He lives outside of Pittsburgh, Pa.

Comments

[Mac]

Well, dang, I wrote a long comment which somehow disappeared after a network error, of which I have way too many...let me see if I can reconstruct it.

Coincidentally, I saw this film just a couple of weeks ago. When I saw that Rob had written about it, I thought "If he doesn't point out Tilda Swinton's performance, I'll do it in a comment." So let me just second him. It's a really remarkable performance. I added the photo to this post by way of illustrating the way she captures a person who is basically one giant raw nerve and is just barely controlling herself. The sense of tension and almost-collapsing control is astonishing, though you really have to see her in motion to feel it fully. In this scene she is on the verge of panic.

[Mac]

Click on the picture to enlarge it--you can really see what I mean then.

[Janet]

I'm definitely going to watch this one.

AMDG

[Stu]

It is a fantastic film. One that I own and return to every now and again. The three leads are just really great. I love the very end where you get to watch Clooney's expression change little by little as he begins to recover from the whole thing and perhaps feel better about his life? I don't think I'm giving anything away with this comment, am I?

[Janet]

The thing is, I don't think I've seen this movie but that picture is so familiar, and the story sounds familiar. Maybe I saw a trailer.

AMDG

[Mac]

I recorded it off cable a while back, either just because I like to watch the occasional thriller, or maybe also because I had a vague recollection of someone having recommended it. I was a little surprised by how skillfully it was done, actually. (No, I don't think that gives away too much, Stu.)

[Mac]

One scene I found really striking, both for Swinton's acting and for its general significance: "The other option..."

[Rob G]

I think the scene in which she's preparing for her video interview is also brilliant, both acting- and direction-wise.

[Janet]

Maybe tonight.

AMDG

[Janet]

I have seen this before.

AMDG

[Janet]

What's really strange is that Bill remembered we had seen it and talked about what a great movie it was. I barely remembered it. I must have been doing something else while he was watching it. I only really remembered the end.

Anyway, Tilda Swinton really did give a great performance, as did Tom Wilkinson.

AMDG

[Rob G]

Since some of us have seen it, if we want to discuss it further maybe Mac could set up a separate "spoilers allowed" thread? If there's enough interest, I mean.

[Mac]

Yes, I can do that. I'll participate. Anybody else?

[Janet]

Sure.

AMDG

[Rob G]

2007 was a really strong year for cinema. In addition to M.C., you had:

No Country For Old Men
Atonement
Juno
There Will Be Blood
The Assassination of Jesse James
Gone Baby Gone
Lars and the Real Girl

The first four were M.C.'s main competition in the various awards categories. The last three were fine films that I had forgotten also came out in '07 until I looked at the Oscars list.

I imagine that in some other year, without so much stiff competition, M.C. might have garnished more awards (It did get seven nominations).