Review of Good Night (2008) by Jane H — 19 Feb 2010

Before seeing this, and not really paying much attention to the DVD cover, I must admit as to thinking that Martin Freeman was Ewan McGregor. Seriously, the photo of him on there looks like an odd angled McGregor picture. He doesn't like him at any other point.

A 2007 comedic fantasy, with Martin as your hapless hero, Gary, living with Dora (a brilliant Gwyneth Paltrow), and his longing to be able to sleep for every to stay in his dreams; that's not a euphemism, he doesn't want to die, he just hates his real life, compared to his fantastical, anything happens world of his dreams. However, as things get progressively worse, his dreams get crazy. This prompts him to start attending dream lectures, held by a very fun Danny DeVito, who is his guide to the best ways to sleep for as long as possible. Simon Pegg is here, as Gary's best friend/ biggest headache, and is pretty damn good, playing a bit more of a bastard than we are use to seeing him do. Penelope Cruz has a dual role- the girl he dreams of, and a real life, somewhat annoying, but well meaning, hand model. She does an excellent job at both, and when his two worlds collide, she's able to sell it quite well.

All the acting is quite effective, but it's Freeman's show, and if he wasn't up to the task and failed at making us like his character, or understanding why his dream life seems much more appealing, it'd all be for not. He, however, plays an everyman exceedingly well, and seems to do no heavy lifting during the movie, which just goes to show how great he is, as many things here.

Jake Paltrow, brother of Gwyneth, directs, and shows a strong visual sense, employing lots and lots of single shots and subtle camera moves to get us in Gary's headspace rather well. His sense of timing, not just for the jokes, but for how long to let the scene run, and when to end things, is impeccable. His use of framing, light/ shadow, and the way he stages the action is very smart.

For example- Dora has been gone on a trip for at least 2 months, Gary comes back to the apartment, and the camera is in the hall, just passed the door to the bedroom, situated dead ahead is the front door. He walks in carrying groceries, she walks out of the bedroom. Dialogue. All in this one shot. Then she goes into the bedroom and we do a push into a medium shot of him, as he heads for the kitchen. All the while, they are continuing their conversation, and she emerges from the other side, and the camera, still without any edits, just moves and pans and rolls as need be to allow the actors the freedom to move, but still engross us fully. When we finally do cut, it's a climax of their, now, fight, as she yells at him.

There are a good number of scenes that play-out similar to this, where, because we aren't being bombarded with edits, we get more involved, even if it's on a subconscious level.

The ending, was rather unseen by me; not at all what I thought was going to happen, but it makes perfect sense, and has a kind of poetic beauty about it.