In the interest of getting “hard” copies of my work under one roof, I plan to spend the next few weeks posting the entire archive of my film journalism here on ScullyVision. With due respect to the many publications I’ve written for, the internet remains quite temporary, and I’d hate to see any of my work disappear for digital reasons. As such, this gargantuan project must begin! I don’t want to do it. I hate doing it. But it needs to be done. Please note that my opinions, like everyone’s, have changed a LOT since I started, so many of these reviews will only represent a snapshot in time. Objectivity has absolutely no place in film criticism, at least not how I do it.
This past weekend I got into a conversation about the films of David Fincher and, more specifically, which of Fincher’s films is his best. A strong argument could be made for any of them (well, probably not Alien 3, but that’s barely a Fincher movie to begin with, what with him being hired last minute to save the production), but my favorite, hands down, is Zodiac.
If you haven’t seen it in a while, and have a spare three hours, I urge you to revisit the film. Based on two books by Robert Graysmith, Zodiac is an intensely thorough and disturbing look at the murderous – and unsolved – career of the Zodiac killer, who was responsible for a string of brutal killings in 1970s San Francisco.
The performances are superb across the board. In the film, Graysmith, a cartoonist turned amateur sleuth, is played by Jake Gyllenhaal, who captures Graysmith’s descent into obsession in such an organic way that when Graysmith himself saw the film, he allegedly noted that he only then could see why his wife left him. It’s a performance to savor, and as audience surrogates go, Gyllenhaal makes Graysmith’s eccentricities relatable. Alongside Gyllenhaal is Robert Downey Jr. as reporter/drunk Paul Avery. Zodiac arrived just two years after Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which was the first role to plant the seeds of Downey’s rebirth, and one year shy of Iron Man, a role that would define Downey’s return to the A-list after a career wrought with personal troubles. Zodiacproved that, despite playing a similarly troubled man, a newly clean and sober Downey wasn’t content to just phone it in on pedigree. He showed that he’d be able go to bat with the best of them, the best of them including future co-Avenger, Mark Ruffalo.
Another wicked strength of the film is the way it swings from police procedural to insular personal drama to outright horror, all without losing a certain wistful sense of humor. My two favorite scenes couldn’t be more tonally opposite. The first is the “picnic stabbing” which, if you’ve seen Zodiac, will give you nightmares just from having read the phrase “picnic stabbing.” This scene is unsettling in part because it actually happened, but also because it would be right at home in any slasher film. My other favorite scene is an exchange between Avery and Graysmith at a bar (called Morti’s, a play on the Latin mortis, meaning death). Graysmith is sipping on a bright blue cocktail in a gaudy glass which Avery, seasoned drinker, openly mocks. Graysmith notes that the drink is called an ‘Aqua Velva’, and that Avery wouldn’t be so keen to make fun of it had he actually tried one. Smash cut to Avery, surrounded by empty Aqua Velva glasses, drunk, happy, and no longer in a mood to ridicule. It’s a muted piece of comedy, but it works wonders to loosen up the mood in the middle of such a bleak film.
Zodiac is also notable for its production value. Fincher has always made sleek, digital films, with a photographic attention to detail in every shot, and at this point in his career, Zodiac was his most visually refined effort. While his earlier works had the qualities of a very present director, Zodiac is considerably less aware of its “movie-ness” while still being a distinctly David Fincher film. This is also the film where it became very clear that Fincher is not even remotely a novelty filmmaker. He is the real deal. This is his career where he made the jump from being received as a niche filmmaker to being regarded as a mainstream artist, worthy of awards recognition.
A few fun facts about the film before I go:
– In order to keep the film’s runtime low, Fincher required that his actors speak more quickly than they naturally would.
– In protest of Fincher requiring so many individual takes of each scene, Downey stashed jars of his own urine around the set to make the statement that he had no time to prepare.
– Joon-ho Bong, director of Snowpiercer, has declared Zodiac a masterpiece.
– Fincher refused to depict any murders of which there wasn’t any survivors to advise him of what happened.
– Some counties in California re-opened the Zodiac case after the film’s release in the hopes that renewed interest may bring new evidence.
You’ll be surprised how quickly the long runtime passes. Don’t let it intimidate you! Zodiac benefits greatly from repeat viewings, yet seems destined to be a one-off for many a filmgoer. Don’t let what is truly a masterpiece disappear from your mind. I promise you’ll be glad you gave it a second look.
