Director: Tony Gilroy
Writer: Tony Gilroy
Stars: George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson
Without Negotiations
"There is no witness so terrible, no accuser so powerful as conscience which dwells within us.”
- Sophocles
„Michael Clayton” is one of the most important movies of 2007, nominated for Academy Award, among others, for best picture of the year and included on top ten lists of many critics. It is also one of my favorite movies, intense thriller telling the story of the „fixer” in law firm, former district attorney who has to deal with a crisis when his friend Arthur, brilliant lawyer who handles the case of 3 billion dollars class action lawsuit against massive copany as its defense lawyer has a nervous breakdown. The intrigue involves ambitious lawyer working for their company Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) and its boss Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack).
The characters are perfectly constructed – we know seemingly little about them, but it's enough to have impression of how their lives must look. Clayton has a young son, who he doesn't get to see often, nor does he has time to have real discussion with him, he is divorced. He has drug addicted brother because of whom he lost business and faces bankruptcy. Worse of all – he is addicted to gambling and has just got back on his feet again. He is alone, grim, frustrated. But he is good at his job and it seems to be everything in his life – not that it would make him happy.
Clooney's performance is truly the best one in his career. He was excellent in „Up in the Air”, „Burn After Reading” and „Solaris” but his work here is exceptional. He seems perfect – elegant suits, great manners, always there for his company, but underneath there's rage, same rage expressed by Arthur. Emptiness, wasted life. Frustration for living every day as a fixer, doing something he really doesn't want to do, but has to because by some miracle he is good at it. With private life in pieces, with nothing to look forward to. That's why after he wins in the end he still looks defeated in this cab. And that's why it's so remarkable and full of hope that even a man who is destroyed, who has no reason to go on, can stand up and do the right thing. When you think of how lawyers are portrayed in the cinema you probably think of Richard Gere in “Primal Fear” or Keanu Reeves in “Devil's Advocate” - cynical, successful, poised, content. And here is a lawyer who not only has financial problems, who is not only not surrounded by beautiful women, but who also, with every day, falls more and more into emptiness and nothingness of his existence. He is far from being hot-shot lawyer cinema always presents – he is almost invisible and what's even more interesting – his job requires him to be like that. He is a “janitor”, he cleans up other people messes. He is the first one on the line – dealing with frustrated clients and employees. The juiciest part of lawyer's job omits him – he finds the best possible people to the job he really wants to do himself (the scene where he tells Mart he wants to go back to court).
