no good movie is too long and no bad

ZODIAC - A New Filmbabble Favorite

"No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough."

- Roger Ebert

I fully agree with Mr. Ebert. Many are grumbling about the length and

density of the movie in question below but you won't find any

grumbling here :

ZODIAC (Dir. David Fincher, 2007) A murderer clothed in darkness or

with a black hood exterminating make-out parking or picnicking young

couples, police and press continuously taunted by letters and cards

sent by a serial killer at large, and an obsession with solving a

perplexing nightmare of a mystery that derails the lives and careers

of investigators and reporters and alienates the ones closest to them

- these are all thriller genre elements that have been arguably done

to death. David Fincher's ZODIAC though beautifully builds upon those

frameworks with excruciating attention to detail and a sense of

personal purpose that can be felt long after the film is over.

The film is based upon the infamous string of Northern Californian

murders in the late 60's and early 70's by a man who indentified

himself as Zodiac and who was never caught. Our protagonist and guide

through this is Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhall) a ex-Eagle Scout

turned San Fransisco Chronicle editorial cartoonist who while not

assigned to the story immerses himself in the chilling codes and

cryptic pronouncements that his paper and the authorities receive from

the Zodiac. The Inspectors on the case David Toshi (Mark Ruffalo) and

William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) follow every possible lead,

dissect every single angle, and interview every single suspect but

still come up severely short on the crucial conclusive evidence

needed. As time goes on with a long silence by the Zodiac - the trail

grows cold leaving our heroes spiritually stumped and forever floored

by the lack of closure.

With few of the stylistic flashy touches of Fincher's previous work

(SE7EN,THE GAME, FIGHT CLUB, PANIC ROOM) ZODIAC is a meticulously

mesmerizing masterpiece. Despite it's over 2 and half hour running

time not a scene is wasted and it's admirable that 70's period piece

cliches aren't exploited. Couldn't be any better cast - joining the

principles are Robert Downey Jr, Brian Cox, Chlo� Sevigny, Phillip

Baker Hall, Dermot Mulroney, and John Carroll Lynch who all play the

right notes with even incidental characters given sharp memorable

turns by reliable bit-players (Donal Logue, Charles Fleisher, Ione

Skye *, John Ennis, Adam Goldberg). Eerily effective and extremely

absorbing with its "histories of ages past" and "unenlightened shadows

cast" as Donovan's * "Hurdy Gurdy Man" (the song that book-ends the

film) playfully but darkly suggests, ZODIAC deserves the oft quoted

critic line this season never lives without - it's truly the first

great movie of the year.

* Donovan has both a song and a daughter in this film. Good for him.

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