March 10, 2007

Zodiac



Being a real suspense buff, I liked this movie. And I don't mind dating myself by saying I remember hearing about the Zodiac killer although I was a mere tot. The huge cast is great, it's just one familiar face after another for 2 hours and 40 minutes. And even a barely recognizable Candy Clark (American Grafitti) in a small role! I think I spotted Armistead Maupin in the background during a scene in which they were talking about him.

The real Zodiac killer was never caught, although according to this movie, after about 15 years everybody and their dog knew who it was. There was just never enough evidence to arrest him. So the film takes us from about 1969 to the early 80's, following Jake's character, Robert Graysmith, a cartoonist for the SF Chronicle, as his interest in the case turns into an obsession. He follows all the leads that the police somehow missed and eventually tracks down the culprit...

It's filmed beautifully, starting out with a kind of 60's exuberance and becoming more realistic as the deaths pile up over the years. There's plenty of fun touches to remind one of the sixties: mimeograph and "telefax" machines, big clunky typewriters, the clothes of course. Jake was good, Mark Ruffalo was great as the detective, and Brian Cox was wonderful as a pompous Melvin Belli.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I loved this movie. I loved what it showed about journalism back then and the communication holes, with no faxes and sending evidence in the mail. Those little touches made it very enjoyable.