2007: Zodiac (Warning: Spoilers Ahead)
Possibly the best year of the noughties, or at least my favourite, many excellent films were released in this stellar year. So many good films makes it hard to make a solid pick, but I narrowed it down to Fincher's masterpiece. My runner-up is Danny Boyle's inventive sci-fi stunner
Sunshine, which is noteable for it's strong performances and interesting execution. Another favourite of 2007 is Pixar's
Ratatouille, which is my favourite Pixar film since
Toy Story 2. Paul Thomas Anderson's weakest film to date, but by no means terrible,
There Will Be Blood is another great film from 2007, that I love mainly for it's great photgraphy and Daniel Day Lewis' powerful performance. I also love
No Country Of Old Men, The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, Superbad, Hot Fuzz, Knocked Up, 300, In The Valley Of Elah & Charlie Wilson's War. Other films I enjoy/guilty pleasures are
Saw IV, Blades Of Glory &
Wild Hogs. A film I know many love from 2007 is
Juno, but I could not stand this movie. One other movie I will mention is
Rescue Dawn. It's no doubt a good movie, but I didn't get into it as much as others. What I do like about though, are both Christian Bale and especially Steve Zahn's performances. The one film from 2007 I did want to see was
Eastern Promises, but could not secure a copy, as I'm under 18. Such a great list of films, and there's even more, considering the films I wasn't very fond of, namely
Gone Baby Gone, Michael Clayton, Before The Devil Know You're Dead & of course
Juno.
But all these films could not stand up to how much I admired, respected and downright enjoyed everything about David Fincher's
Zodiac.
I was blown away by
Zodiac when I saw it a few months back. I was taken in by the tense opening sequence, and when people started getting killed to the tune of Donovan's
Hurdy Gurdy Man, I knew I was in for something special. During the 1960's and '70s, the Zodiac Killer terrorised San Francisco and sent various letters to newspapers, but the film is particularly about a San Franciso Chronicle cartoonist named Robert Graysmith, who slowly becomes an avid follower of the case. It also follows Detective Dave Toschi, assigned to the Zodiac case and slowly becomes sick of being a part of it. I think of the film in three parts: the introduction, where the main characters and story are established, the Toschi chapter, which spans Toschi's police investigation and the final Graysmith chapter, where Graysmith conducts his own personal investigation into the murders.
As David Fincher mounts the tension, style and atmosphere, it's easy to find yourself hooked into the story that Fincher conveys. It's gripping, but also entertaining, in it's own way, to see characters interact and suspects questioned. Given the look and feel of a '70's cop drama, we almost feel we're part of the investigation, peeling back layers of the case and drawing our own conclusions, before we have them completely have them turned over on their heads. It's fun to watch as Fincher keeps us on our toes.
It's also good to see Fincher's talent mature. Sure,
Se7en &
Fight Club proved him to be a director who knows what he's doing, but
Zodiac started his mature and subtle approach to film that continued in
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button &
The Social Network. There's some of the grim feel of
Se7en, and visual dazzle of
Fight Club, but this is a completely different film; one that's plays out like a simple procedural thriller, with a multilayered examination of obsession underneath. There's also a hidden thematic message; what will we do for the truth? Alienate our family? Lose our job? Compromise our sanity? Basically an extension of the obsession part, but an interesting one in itself.
The film is also incredibly cool, thanks largely to the choice of music and masterful style that it's directed in. It's a little Tarantinoesque, a little Dirty Harry like, but undeniably Fincher. The sequence in which the montage of characters reading the Zodiac letters, with Sly & The Family Stone's "I Wanna Take You Higher", just feels awesome.
The character of Robert Graysmith is a tricky one to understand. We don't know where his obsession with the Zodiac case comes from, other than a scene where his wife confronts him in a messy room full of files and notes. He says "I need to know who he is. I need to stand there. I need to look him in the eye and know it's him,". This line still resonates with me, because the line is delivered with sincerity and passion. You honestly believe this guy gave up many years of his life to catch a virtually uncatchable killer.
Jake Gyllenhaal's performance is arguably the best of his career, as he slowly digs himself deeper and deeper into the case, compromising everything dear to him in the process. Gyllenhaal is very believable in the role, and while I don't think much of him as an actor (although
Donnie Darko is a favourite of mine, and Gyllenhaal's performance contributes a lot), he is definitely performing at his absolute best here.
Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr's performances are also very good, but it's John Carroll Lynch who is the most effective as prime Zodiac suspect Arthur Leigh Allen. He's genuinely creepy and chilling in his few scenes in the film, and delivers each of his lines with an aura of evil and eerie power.
Many filmgoers dismiss this superbly crafted thriller because of it's ambiguous and inconclusive ending. Viewers wanted a killer, but in a David Fincher film, it's never that simple. What we get is the perfect ending, one that can go different ways, depending on how you view the film. The final scene between Michael Magaeu and the Vallejo police officer gives chills down my spine. The final line delivered in the film offers up some closure, and even though Allen might not be the Zodiac, he's still a murderer. I love the ending to this film, because I can draw my own conclusions and
Hurdy Gurdy Man is the perfect way to start and end a film.
I completely love everything about this film, and even though it's underappreciated now, I can see it becoming a relavant classic in a few years time. This is how you make a mystery film, and I don't think David Fincher will ever top
Zodiac.