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Synopsis:
James Gray, director of such hard-edged crime dramas as
LITTLE ODESSA and THE YARDS, reveals the dark and unsettling
complexities of love in his somber romantic drama, TWO
LOVERS.
Set against the gray winter
backdrop of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, the story centers on
Leonard Kraditor (Joaquin Phoenix), a depressed and
sometimes suicidal bachelor trying to pick up the pieces of
his life after a bad breakup. Living with his parents and
helping out at the family dry-cleaning business, Leonard
finds himself in an existence that, save for his dabbling in
black-and-white photography, is ordinary and stifling. His
parents, mother Ruth (Isabella Rossellini) and father Reuben
(Moni Moshonov), hope that a merger with a lucrative
business-run by a friend of Reuben’s with a pretty daughter,
Sandra (Vinessa Shaw)-will spark a budding romance in
Leonard. But their plan hits a snag when Leonard befriends
Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow), an alluring but emotionally
needy blonde who struggles with her own desire for
validation from a married man with whom she is having an
affair. Phoenix is brilliant as the brooding and complex
Leonard, an anti-hero caught between filial obligation and a
longing for escape, who sees in Michelle a partner for his
troubled soul. While TWO LOVERS can come off at times a bit
unadorned and overly low-key, its great strength lies in its
power to simply and honestly convey the muddled and awkward
realities of love-a feat that could not be matched by 1000
generic Hollywood rom-coms.
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