11. ZODIAC. (2007)
Directed by David Fincher
As we get to this stage in the list, we’re inevitably going to be running into a number of career bests, and so it is with ZODIAC, David Fincher’s finest film by far. Both a thriller about a search for a murderer in 1970s San Francisco, and a drama about the human effects of the failed search on the men trying to capture him, ZODIAC is a mature, tense and devastating film, one which pays tribute to the indefatigability of an investigation, while showing us the very human cost of searching for something so important and failing to find it.
While Fincher’s previous films were superbly put together (even the minor ones like THE GAME, PANIC ROOM and ALIEN 3), this is the first of his films to truly engage on an emotional level since SEVEN. While FIGHT CLUB was far flashier, by its very nature, this is a more sobering film. While the thriller aspects of the film are superb, it’s as a human drama that the film really excels. Fincher gets terrific performances from Robert Downey Jr and Jake Gyllenhaal as employees of the San Francisco Chronicle (respectively star journalist and new cartoonist), who become obsessed with the search for the Zodiac murderer. Equally brilliant are Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Edwards as the detectives tracking the case.
Fincher’s always shown great skill when dealing with actors, but this cast deliver flawless performances to a man. Gyllenhaal, for example, is better here than he’s ever been, while Edwards also gives a career best performance. We have come to expect excellence from the other two main leads, and neither Ruffalo nor Downey Jr. disappoint. Great support comes from Chloe Sevigny, Brian Cox and Elias Koteas, while there’s a haunting cameo from John Carroll Lynch in one of the film’s best scenes.
The film has a number of extraordinary moments, mostly in scenes when pieces of information are put together. A few stand out, such as the scene in which Lynch’s character is interrogated, and the two murder scenes we see are simply brilliantly handled. These scenes prove Fincher to be one of the most accomplished directors around, and he does wonders with the pacing of James Vanderbilt’s script, turning a near-three hour movie into something without a semblance of a sag in the middle.
It is, of course, exquisitely shot. Fincher’s use of space, colour and scale is probably second-to-none. It was unfairly neglected on release, as it seemed that the studio’s sole plan was to avoid the awards consideration it could and should have received. Now that time has passed, though, it has grown in stature. The story it follows is based on the true events that inspired DIRTY HARRY, most notably, yet there isn’t an essence of cartoonish excess, overt moralising or easy answers anywhere in ZODIAC.
Arguably the most accurate comparison film might be Spike Lee’s SUMMER OF SAM, which while very different, stylistically, bears the hallmark of being a crime movie in which the film focuses more on the impact of those around it. While Lee’s film is concerned with the impact on the community, Fincher’s focus is more narrow, he deals with the same fear and uneasiness, but adds in professional frustration and a devastating weight on the shoulders of its protagonists, turning the film into a tragic examination of the human cost of allowing the impact of such terrible crimes into your life.
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