Review of The Good German (2006) by Melvin W — 25 Oct 2011

Lena Brandt: You can never really get out of Berlin. .

"Not Everyone Finds Peace After The War".

One thing I got while watching The Good German is that Soderbergh made this movie for himself. It is easy to see that he loves 40's noir and he probably had a lot of fun paying homage to those films. If we are only looking at how well he did in making a movie that feels like it was made 60 years ago; he did one hell of a job. If there were no faces I recognized and the profanity was dropped, I would have easily mistaken this for a film from the 40's. The cinematography is perfect, the music is perfect and the overall tone of the movie is perfect. What isn't perfect is the plot. .

This movie is so close to being one of the coolest movies ever. If only Soderbergh would have worried about the story as much as the style. This is a glaring example of style over substance. As far as a plot synopsis, ummm... Clooney's character walks around postwar Berlin questioning people about the whereabouts of a suspected dead man and ultimately trying to fine out what happened to some driver named Tully. That is about it. So I didn't really enjoy this film so much for the plot. But to be honest, I didn't really care that much.

I was interested the entire time, without being riveted by the events of the story. I had fun watching a classic noir made in the 21st century. Had this movie been made in the 40's and not recently, I would probably hate it. But I appreciate Soderbergh's guts to make a film like this. Obviously most people aren't going to like it and I assume he knew that going in. It is cool to see a filmmaker who makes a movie just for himself every once in awhile. Kind of like what Gus Van Sant has been doing since Good Will Hunting. Do you really think he thought people would respond well to a Psycho remake? No, but that is what he wanted to, so he did it.

This isn't a great film, but it is interesting filmmaking at work. If you love classic noir, The Good German is worth a look. Will you like it? Odds are, no. I can't say that I really liked it, yet I know I didn't dislike it. I just found it to be a cool and unique film from a cool and unique director.