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Mood:
Gloomy Stylized Suspenseful Atmospheric Clever Tense
Plot:
Investigation Journalism Obsessive Quest Love Affair Haunted By the Past Murder Love and Romance Mind and Soul more...
Genres:
Drama Mystery Period
Time/Period:
20th Century 40s
Place:
Germany
Based on:
Based on Book
Attitudes:
Serious Realistic
Look:
B&W
Flag:
Profanity Sexual Content Violent Content

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Overview

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The Good German, 2006

Starring: George Clooney, Cate Blanchett

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

Written by: Joseph Kanon

Language: English, German, Russian

Country: USA

Runtime: 105 min

MPAA Rating: R

Rating:6.1

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Profile of The Good German

The mood of The Good German is gloomy, stylized, and suspenseful. The plot centers around journalism, an obsessive quest, and being haunted by the past. It is a drama, period, and mystery movie. In approach, The Good German is serious and realistic. The setting is Germany. It happens in the 20th century. Visually, The Good German is black and white. It is based on a book. Note that it includes sexual content, profanity, and violent content.

Summary of The Good German

One of mainstream cinema's most tirelessly inventive directors, Steven Soderbergh delivers another big-budget stylistic experiment with THE GOOD GERMAN. This time around, Soderbergh's target is 1940s film noir. Set in postwar Berlin, the atmospheric thriller is based on the acclaimed novel by Joseph Kanon. Frequent Soderbergh collaborator George Clooney plays Jake Geismer, an American military journalist who has returned to Berlin for the Potsdam Peace Conference. Jake's driver, Tully (Tobey Maguire), appears innocent upon first glance, but is in fact a major player in the corrupt Berlin underworld. He's also dating Jake's former flame, Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett), whose beauty continues to torment Jake. When Tully's cadaver washes ashore one day, Jake is shocked to discover that nobody wants to go public with the news. As much as he'd like to forget about Lena, he can't. Pretty soon, he's risking his life to help her flee the country.

In shooting THE GOOD GERMAN, Soderbergh employed many of the actual filmmaking techniques that were used in the 1940s: black-and-white cinematography, elaborately constructed sets, wide master shots, and a sweeping score (compliments of Thomas Newman). The result is a film that looks and feels like it was made in a much earlier era, yet which contains the graphic language and content of an R-rated early 21st-century production.

Details

Language:	English, German, Russian
Country:	USA
Release date:	12 November 2006
Runtime:	105 min

Cast and Crew See all

George Clooney

as Jake Geismer

Cate Blanchett

as Lena Brandt

Photos See all

Tobey Maguire in The Good German (2006)

George Clooney in The Good German (2006)

Clips See all

The Good German: Home Video

The Good German: Official Trailer

Critics Reviews See all

TV Guide

But for all the profane language and sexual frankness, Soderbergh's film is no more cynical or world-weary than its inspirations, and in the end, it feels like a clever trick wrapped around a hollow center. Full Review

|
by: Maitland McDonagh

Rolling Stone

This is Soderbergh's show, and a haunting and hypnotic show it is. Full Review

|
by: Peter Travers

Users Reviews See all

29.March.2010
|
by: Democritus
Democritus rated this movie0/10

Mostly, this is fun to just fall into and watch in a sort of contented trance. A reporter during World War II is in uniform for a special assignment in Berlin just weeks after it has surrendered. He encounters an old German flame, the alluring Cate Blanchett. It is all so familiar: a dead-on homage to "Casablanca" & "Chinatown," with a dash of post-war Neo-Realism, such as "Open City" or "Year Zero." The one totally original note is the whiney part played by Tobey Maguire. (I've liked him elsewhere, but this role is a bit miswritten.) I think the movie is good enough to stand on its own, but fans of classics will enjoy all the references---unless they are annoyed by it & see it as a only a shameless rip-off---such as "Chinatown"'s hero being named Jake, as is this one. Likewise, "there is no getting out of Berlin," just like the L.A. of the 1930s where the mixture of sunshine & corruption is endemic: "It's ALL Chinatown." So moral ambiguity & failing is a common theme, as is the semi-redemptive power of love, giving a twist to certain subplots of "Casablanca," including a shameless reenactment of its closing scene setting.They've cleverly designed it so the heroine gets to act out BOTH the Ingrid Bergman AND the Faye Dunaway endings---which are of course very different, but you'll see what I mean. First 15 minutes are self-conscious in their emulation of the oldies, but it soon finds a good dramatic pace, and rolls along nicely on its own for those not into the retro references---in which this is drenched. Clooney is very good, too. (Maybe audiences who don't have a touch of the cinephile in them will react differently to its high style, which may seem merely arch or even simply unrecognizably weird to them.) I don't know the book, so that wasn't an issue: lucky me---I got serious fun on its own merits. 3.09 _______PS Don't get upset at the screen format. It was deliberately made in the old nearly-square ratio. Or stretch it on a computer.

29.March.2010
|
by: Democritus

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The Good German wants to be a "modern version" of Casablanca. Unfortunately what that means is add bad language, sex, remove any likeable qualities from all characters, and basically have nothing at all uplifting in the story. So it really ends up... Read and rate it

24.March.2009
|
by: bartyount
bartyount rated this movie4/10Disappointing

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