Steven Soderbergh's newest film "The Good German" is, rather unfortunately, neither good nor German. This present-day film noir tries too hard to make itself a 1940s classic, complete with black and white film and a plot set at the end of World War II. Yet the director misses the key elements of movies of that time, and succeeds in making something overly dramatic and slightly ridiculous.
Based on Joseph Kanon's novel of the same name, "The Good German" centers around three individuals caught up in the crime and mystery of Berlin during the Potsdam Conference. Patrick Tully (Tobey Maguire) is a young soldier stationed in Berlin enjoying the high life as a driver for the United States Army. He admits to loving his newfound life of money, sex and other hedonistic pleasures, many involving girlfriend Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett). A German prostitute, Lena has a shady past as well as a shady ex-husband, a Nazi who died in the war.
Arriving at the conference as a reporter for The New Republic is American Jake Geismer (George Clooney). Though he has a past with Lena, he's there to investigate a murder that occurs during the first third of the film. All of these characters' lives are tangled in a dangerous web. Murder and sabotage are acceptable methods to quiet Americans who could release dangerous information about former Nazis. There are many plot twists along the way, and secrets are revealed about Lena and Tully's past. These secrets, however, are not delivered or set up with the drama necessary to create a stir for the viewer.
The best part of "The Good German" is, by far, the acting. Maguire, typically typecast as young and innocent, breaks out as he plays Tully with brutality and force. Blanchett is impressive, as usual; her German accent and line delivery is spot-on. Clooney does his best, which is good enough, because of the strong acting of the ensemble. One would think that with a talented cast and a wonderful backdrop, this film could be a success; such an assumption would be wrong.
As with some of the poorer films of the 1940s, the time period that Soderbergh seeks to mimic, "The Good German" is bogged down with a melodramatic script and dark, overpowering classical music blaring at the transition of every scene. The prior we can blame on screenwriter Paul Attanasio, whose other failures include "The Sum of All Fears" (2002). Attanasio did write "Donnie Brasco" (1997) and "Quiz Show" (1994), however, two critically acclaimed films from the last decade.
So while one could forgive the seasoned screenwriter for some poor choices in dialogue, the more noticeable problem lies in the character voiceovers that occur sporadically throughout the film. While not frequent enough to provide any real insight into the minds of Tully, Lena and Jake, they are common enough to warrant skepticism and frustrate the viewer. Imagine the voiceovers from "Sin City" (2005) in a movie that takes itself 10 times more seriously than "Sin" directors Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller and Quentin Tarantino ever did.
The music is simply annoying as it overtakes many scenes, and serves to draw the audience out of the time and place of the film. While seeking to emphasize the aura of mystery and intrigue surrounding 1945 Berlin and the conference between British, American and Russian officials in finding a peaceful end to the war, the music only succeeds in taking away from the actors' presence.
Another distracting flaw of "The Good German" are the ridiculous outdoor sets that seem to be, and may actually have been, constructed out of gray-painted cardboard. Though this may seem more authentic, it merely contradicts the crisp, clear footage provided by the camera technology of 2006. The interspersed newsreel footage from the conference has the same effect, seeming out of place among modern actors and high quality rolls of film.
Parts of "The Good German" are actually painful because it is so clear that the filmmakers aimed to make a film of another era. They tried and tried, to no avail. The histrionic writing and plot stick out like a sore thumb in today's age of cinematic realism. Most audiences today would rather watch Zach Braff wander through his meaningless 20s and 30s than try to escape to World War II for two hours. "The Good German" is for another age, one that is no longer relevant or interesting to moviegoers of today.
