Michael Clayton Movie Review
George Clooney up for Best Actor, Film for Best Picture Oscars
Michael Clayton is a taut, character driven thriller starring George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, and Tom Wilkinson, and directed by Tony Gilroy.
Michael Clayton works especially well because of its actors' faces. When we see the range of emotion -from guilt to amorality- flash across their faces, the characters and the film really take hold.
The Face of George Clooney
The first face is George Clooney playing title character Michael Clayton. He works for one of those mega-rich high powered law firms we see in movies but which few of us ever get to see inside. Early in the film, Clayton is called to deal with an important client’s hit and run. The client was told Clayton was a ‘miracle worker’ who would sort the situation out (i.e. make it disappear). ‘I’m a janitor,’ Clayton counters. And that’s exactly what he is- the firm calls him in to clean up the messes that affect their rich clients, to sweep the crimes, sins, problems under the rug.
Clayton is aware of the questionable morality of his job. He has in fact grown weary and conflicted. And we see those feelings playing across Clooney’s distinguished face, darkening it along with the ever present stubble and deep brown eyes. His face is most expressive when his eyes are holding back tears or allowing a few to escape as he does after a conversation with his knowing son, played by Austin Williams.
The Face of Tom Wilkinson
Clayton’s conflict deepens when he is called in to clean up the mess of co-worker, Arthur, played by Tom Wilkinson. Arthur is a high powered attorney currently defending a chemical company embroiled in a class action suit. His job is to do whatever it takes to save the company money, regardless of their culpability (we learn that over 400 people were killed and many others injured by a toxic weed killer the company produces). Arthur knows the truth and decides he can no longer just wash the blood off of his own hands - a crisis of conscience that has pushed him to the brink of madness (and public nakedness). Clayton is called in to clean up the mess before Arthur further compromises the case. In Arthur’s eyes, and his words, we can see how the madness has taken hold of him. And when we see his face and Clayton’s in the same scene, it seems an ominous foreshadowing of Clayton’s future.
The Face of Tilda Swinton
The third important face in the movie is Tilda Swinton, as a lawyer defending the chemical company. Her character is not unlike her role in Chronicles of Narnia- a white witch. She is cold, calculating, and amoral. We see these traits pass across Swinton’s porcelain face and glassy eyes. In one scene we see her rehearsing lines for a presentation she is giving the next day. She is meticulous, almost robotic. Indeed, the only time she really betrays any emotion is in a dramatic confrontation when she collapses, though more through a realization of her failures than the weight of her conscience.
See it Before Oscar Night!
These three faces make for a stylish, dark, character-driven thriller. The movie has the standard twists, confrontations, and revelations, all done with real panache. But what raises the film to the next level is the terse dialog, penned by director Tony Gilroy, the performances, and the life appearing on the faces of the three stars of the film. Each has been nominated for an Oscar this year, and rightly so. The emotion captured on each of their faces is what makes the film so deeply memorable, profound, and haunting.
Michael Clayton was re-released on January 25th.
