Review of Certified Copy (2010) by Jonathan K — 27 Jun 2012

Bottom line: If the characters are playing pretend through the whole film, it's a copy of a true drama (a certified one at that.) This invokes the question: Are you satisfied with a copy, or do you want the original? I was not only unsatisfied by this "certified copy" of a disintegrated relationship, I was irritated.

It's not that I find it pretentious or too artistic, it's more that it's shambling to the point of frustration. I'm aware this film is a bit of a mystery, framed in the form of a question, but the lack of something real to sink one's teeth into is both revelatory of my rationalist/realist disposition and the infuriating ambiguity of the nature of the co-stars' relationship.

This movie should come with a warning, or at least a more directly offered foreshadowing of the duality of the make-believe that dominates the majority of the runtime. But if the question to be answered is not whether it's real or fiction, but rather whether you are content with a good copy or whether it must be the real thing, Certified Copy wholly succeeds.