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The Good German Our rating: Your rating: 1 2 3 4 Your Comments: see all MPAA rating: R (for language, violence, and some sexual content) Genre: Drama, Mystery Theater release: February 14, 2007 by Paramount Pictures Directed by: Steven Soderbergh Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes Cast: George Clooney (Capt. Jacob "Jake" Geismer), Cate Blanchett (Lena), Tobey Maguire (Corporal Patrick Tully), Leeland Orser (Bernie Teitel), Beau Bridges (Colonel Muller), Tony Curran (Danny), Ravil Isaynov (General Sikorsky), Jack Thompson (Congressman Breimer) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

"They just don't make them like that anymore." So I've heard from many a nostalgic film fan over the years in reference to the Golden Age of Hollywood. What is it about films from the '30s and '40s? Is there something to black-and-white film? Are today's movie stars less classy than those from that era? Where are the new classics of today?

Steven Soderbergh must have been asking himself questions like these—as well as, "Hey, why can't we make them like that anymore?" An aficionado of classic filmmaking, the Oscar-winning director has come up with a film experiment that recreates the look of yesterday's movies, similar to Kerry Conran's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow except that this one favors noir mystery/dramas instead of Saturday morning sci-fi adventure.

George Clooney as Capt. Jake Geismer

Based on Joseph Kanon's novel, The Good German echoes the setting of The Third Man and the central relationship of Casablanca. It's 1945 and the European theater of World War II has ended. Captain Jake Geismer (George Clooney) is a war correspondent sent to cover the Potsdam Peace Conference in Berlin, where Allied leaders will meet to decide the fate of Germany, as well as the spoils of war their respective countries will reap.

Geismer is assigned a driver, Corporal Patrick Tully (Tobey Maguire), a young solider with seemingly wide-eyed all-American innocence. It turns out he's been corrupted by the post-war decadence of Berlin, thriving from his black market dealings with those who need hard-to-get supplies, and especially those who are most desperate to get out of town before the new regime takes over.

Cate Blanchett as Lena Brandt

One such refugee is Tully's girlfriend Lena (Cate Blanchett), who also happens to be Geismer's former lover from when he was stationed in Berlin years ago. War has changed her, as with everyone, but is there something more that she's concealing from Jake? Days later, an American G.I. is found dead in the river on the Russian side of the city, with 100,000 Deutsch marks on his person. The plot thickens, and Geismer takes it upon himself to solve the murder while uncovering how Lena is involved, and why both the American and Russian governments are so quick to dismiss the case.

The Good German oozes with ambience. Soderbergh shot the film entirely in black and white, relying only on the same technology that was available back in the '40s. Though the actors were filmed on a Los Angeles sound stage, the director edits it together with real news footage of Berlin from that time, and utilizes the same nostalgic transitional "wipes" between scenes that characterized so many classic films (not to mention Star Wars). The dramatic score by Thomas Newman befits the film, and to say that black-and-white film loves Clooney and Blanchett is an understatement. (We already knew it was true of Clooney from last year's Good Night, and Good Luck but Blanchett is in full shadowy Marlene Dietrich mode here.)

Tobey Maguire as Tully

Yes, it definitely looks, sounds, and feels like a Hollywood classic. Unfortunately, it turns out that they really can't make them like that anymore. But give Soderbergh and company an A for effort.

The Good German is a compelling mystery as we wait for the next link in the chain, expecting it to lead to a big reveal at the end. But the payoff is unsatisfying—merely an extension of what we already know from the movie's plodding pace.

It's interesting that the screenplay by Paul Attanasio divides the story almost evenly into three segments, each from the point of view of the three main characters. But it also undermines the mystery a little, lest you think it's some Rashomon device used to put the puzzle together. Since we learn plenty from the perspectives of Tully and Lena, it makes following our hero/detective less interesting with no real surprises.

The film noir effect looks great; alas, the story doesn't carry it

If that's not enough, The Good German also drops the ball by exploiting the seedy content of the film's plot, again proving to some that filmmakers really can't make them like they used to. This is not a wholesome movie like Casablanca or The Third Man; this one is loaded with bad language, adult themes, and some brief graphic sexual content. Maguire in particular seems to be working in overdrive to shed his good boy Peter Parker image—an interestingly darker role that plays against type for him, but he almost tries too hard to be unlikable.

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