zodiac

Zodiac

ZODIAC (David Fincher, 2007)

Based on the unsolved case, the decades-spanning ZODIAC documents the

intensive search for a killer who haunted Bay Area citizens and

taunted authorities with promises of unpreventable future murders. In

letters to three San Francisco newspapers, the man calling himself the

Zodiac claims responsibility for lover's lane killings at

Christmastime 1968 and on July 4, 1969. To add validity to his claims

the correspondence includes details not made available to the public.

The cryptograms that come with the letters supposedly reveal his true

identity.

Police officers and newspapermen following the case can't help but

become obsessed. Inspectors David Toschii (Mark Ruffalo) and William

Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) are dogged in following leads, but they

encounter a maze of dead ends. Police at the various jurisdictions

involved with the Zodiac's alleged victims haven't shared their

information and can be uncooperative in doing so.

San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal)

pores over the cryptograms and collects any scrap of knowledge he can

find, including the discarded papers of reporter Paul Avery (Robert

Downey Jr.). The case drags on for years, yet Robert plunges even

deeper into it assured that he can crack the investigation.

Director David Fincher lets ZODIAC unspool at a leisurely pace that

permits it to examine evidence and details over a long period of time.

The film leaves no stone unturned, a defining trait both admirable for

how it draws a portrait of obsession and questionable for

entertainment purposes. ZODIAC'S thoroughness is unparalleled among

police procedurals, but all the shoe leather can become tedious.

Granted, that's the point. The exhaustive process becomes

all-consuming, and Fincher encapsulates that frustrating pursuit well.

Perhaps he does it too well because the bogged down section devoted to

the investigators gets tiresome.

Unlike THE NUMBER 23, a film undone by the silly and nonsensical,

ZODIAC dives headlong into obsession and rationalizes it. As audience

members trained to spot red herrings and foreshadowing in movie

mysteries, we begin to believe we're finding clues and connections to

bring about a satisfying resolution when one cannot be found. Like it

does for Graysmith, the answer seems within reach even though going in

one knows that the case was never solved. Still, that doesn't squelch

thoughts that history can be changed within the confines of the film.

As obsession will lead people to do strange things, so will fear. It's

also a driving force in ZODIAC and one that Fincher uses to connect

these unsolved murders to today. The director doesn't equate the

Zodiac and Middle Eastern terrorists, but it seems apparent that he's

interested in linking how living in fear of them fulfills their goals

too. While the threats both present are real or legitimately accepted

as such, the likelihood of them directly impacting any individual's

life is exponentially greater via their function as boogeymen. Yet

parents pull kids off buses because the Zodiac threatens to shoot

children unboarding from them. Airline passengers aren't permitted to

bring liquids or toothpaste onto planes for fear of terrorist plots.

In the minds of the public, both are granted extraordinary powers out

of fear. (If you're seeking direct evidence of Fincher comparing the

times, look no further than how he depicts the bureaucratic roadblocks

in information sharing about the Zodiac, a section that echoes

pre-9/11 intelligence gathering.)

An elegant sequence in ZODIAC shows the passage of time in the case

while recreating the construction of one of the Bay's signature

buildings. Similarly, the story is built beam by beam, but Fincher

tweaks the final design of what we expect in the architecture of a

serial killer movie. Doors don't lead where they normally do, and some

rooms can never be unlocked. For that reason ZODIAC can be a vexing

film, but its style and ideas compensate for the thwarting of

conventions.