03.19.08

Zodiac

Posted in drama, reviews at 12:24 pm by FilmFemme

Back in high school, I may not have been a popular kid.  Or particularly cool.  Or into music or art or school or computers or anything that might have taken me anywhere in life.  But I did know a lot about serial killers. I have found, over the course of growing up, moving out and meeting other people that I wasn’t the only adolescent girl who a had a mildly creepy and probably disturbing to my parents obsession with guys like Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy.  All of this is really neither here nor there except to say that I may have been inclined to like Zodiac whether or not it was good.  Lucky for me (and you!) it was good.

The thing about this movie is that it isn’t really classifiable as a typical serial killer movie.  Because it isn’t about living in fear like something like Summer of Sam.  And it isn’t a hardcore procedural exercise.  Instead, it’s really about a guy that, like me when I was 16, is kind of obsessed with serial killers and devotes his life, to the detriment of all relationships, his career, etc., to solving the Zodiac killings that took place in Northern California in the 1960s and 70s.  Because even though they’re rare and scary and crazy and evil, they are pretty fucking interesting.

So this guy, Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal playing Tobey Maguire playing Peter Parker playing Robert Graysmith) is a political cartoonist at the San Francisco Chronicle when the killings start.  He is intrigued by the Zodiac ciphers and develops a friendship with Paul Avery (Robert Downey, Jr. - he is still capable of playing characters who aren’t addicts, right?  Is he?) who is reporting on the case.  Meanwhile, Mark Ruffalo  (he sureis famous for a nobody) and Goose  (he sure should be more famous) are detectives who are investigating the killings too.  The movie spans over 20 years from the first killing up until Graysmith’s book is publihed in 1991.  All of the characters are quirky and interesting and sympathetic and I thought this movie was great.  From adorable character traits like Mark Ruffalo’s propensity for eating his partner’s animal crackers to Chloe Sevigny, who plays Graysmith’s long-suffering 2nd wife Melanie to pursed lip perfection, Zodiac was 2 and half hours of engaging drama.

The most annoying thing that I can say about it is that, after the story devolves into Graysmith running around alone, trying to solve the long cold case, the one piece of evidence that leads him to what ends up being his most promising lead - is revealed about an hour before he figures it out.  Maybe it’s supposed to make you feel good about yourself, but when the movie is already 2 hours and 45 minutes long, it’s just irritating.

Also look for charming cameos by Ione Skye (who has barely aged since she last made out with John Cusack), Clea Duvall (who is hardcore as always)  and Donal Logue (who must have a great agent). 

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