Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Michael Clayton / USA / 2007

Michael Clayton revolves around a company “fixer” coming to terms with the amoral choices he has made to survive within the corporate world, mostly involving actions taken to ensure his employers maintain their power. Gilroy’s film earnestly condemns the endless exploitation that businesses partake in to ensure their profits and also contains an unexpectedly fervent performance from Clooney who convincingly swings from disillusioned to impassionate over the course of the narrative.

Unfortunately, masked behind a needless flashback strategy, Michael Clayton is a fairly mundane corporate thriller, content to repeat the routine conflicts we witness in every Hollywood movie purporting to explore the inherent dishonesty found in commercial enterprise. I would honestly be amazed if anyone other than the most supremely naïve and uninformed audience member would be shocked by the type of corruption that Clooney’s Clayton seeks to expose within the film’s central scenario, considering such sleazy tactics appear to be standard nowadays.

Clearly Michael Clayton’s internal mission statement consists of attracting Oscar attention, as corroborated by the showy scenes in which we witness Tom Wilkinson frantically disrobing during a deposition in order to signal his mental disintegration or the purposely unglamorous moments where we watch Tilda Swinton get sweaty in a washroom stall as she deals with an anxiety attack brought about by her unscrupulous policies. While the filmmakers spend plenty of time revealing stale character motivations and setting up straightforward symbolism, the film’s handling of “weighty” issues feels rather counterfeit, as if calculated to appeal to a specific demographic of AMPAS members. Thus, we are treated to a pivotal scene involving supposedly mesmerizing horses that feels entirely unearned (was that Clooney and exec-producer Soderbergh getting their Tarkovsky on again?), as well as several hollow allusions to Hindu deities that serve as declarations of the film’s higher artistic aspirations, but miss their mark considerably since they don’t really comprehend the substance behind their references. Thankfully, Gilroy has the decency to admit his intentions with the extended close-up of his star that concludes his film, as if finally disclosing that the entire project has been manufactured to allow Clooney an opportunity to attain a second statue.

by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Warner Brothers 35mm Print
20 Dec 2007 1:24 PM | Comments (3)

Comments / 3 total / Submit Comment

1. Mark / 20 December 2007 / 1:48 PM

   Unfortunately, your fairy mundane dig at Solaris was just as needless.

2. Mark / 20 December 2007 / 1:52 PM

   *fairly mundane

3. Chiranjit / 20 December 2007 / 3:47 PM / URL

   I’m not really seeing how I took a dig at Solaris. I actually think Soderbergh’s version of Solaris might be one of the most underrated and misunderstood movies of the past decade (or at least the last few years). I’m just saying the horses that pop-up in Michael Clayton as some great revelation to Clayton are a bit pompous and out of place.