by Frank Calvillo
Box Office Alternative Column
Box Office Alternative is a weekly look into additional/optional choices to the big-budget spectacle opening up at your local movie theater every Friday. Oftentimes, titles will consist of little-known or underappreciated work from the same actor/writer/director/producer of said new release, while at other times, the selection for the week just happens to touch upon the same subject in a unique way. Above all, this is a place to revisit and/or discover forgotten cinematic gems of all kinds.
With this week’s release of Southpaw, Jake Gyllenhaal continues his quest of becoming one of the most chameleon-like actors of his generation.
The Antoine Fuqua-directed boxing drama has all the blood, sweat, and tears you could want from a film of this genre, while also managing to give its lead actor a character that allows him to disappear into once again.
While I’m not the actor’s biggest fan, I’ve got nothing but admiration for Gyllenhaal’s career decisions, which have afforded him a brilliant career as a character actor. It would have been far too easy for him to travel down the movie star route others have found comfort in (I’m looking at you Chris Pine), so instead he’s opted for a series of character roles in wide array of films from some of the most acclaimed directors working today.
Hands down, the best example of this is Gyllenhaal’s work in David Fincher’s criminally unloved Zodiac.
The 2007 true-crime drama told the story of a serial killer known as the Zodiac, who murdered a variety of people along Northern California in the 1960s. Fincher’s film follows a cartoonist from The San Francisco Chronicle named Robert Graysmith (Gyllenhaal), who becomes intrigued by the case after managing to decipher the cryptic puzzle sent by the killer to the newspaper. Along with reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.) and a detective named Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo), the three spend years chasing the elusive killer; a chase which takes over their careers and lives.
The story of the Zodiac has long been one of the most compelling serial killer cases in history with its complex patterns and unorthodox features. It is for this reason that Zodiac remains so insanely watchable. Most true crime procedurals can usually play out as somewhat dry exercises, bogged down by many dates and names which don’t register with the audience. The inclusion of scenes such as when a husband and wife unknowingly decipher one of the Zodiac’s puzzles published in the newspaper, or when a secretary opens up an envelope containing a bloodied piece of clothing from one of the killer’s victims, literally make the film come alive in ways other titles in the genre are unable to. Because the case of the Zodiac is shrouded in so much mystery and unconventionality, Fincher’s film is able to rise above such trappings to become an involving and gripping mystery.
While names, dates, and places are all par for the course in a film based on true events, Zodiac manages to remain fresh thanks to large amounts of suspense throughout its runtime. Numerous scenes involving Graysmith receiving late night phone calls of heavy breathing and an interview with a witness who turns out to be a likely candidate for the killer himself are nothing short of heart pounding thanks a top caliber script and Gyllenhaal’s wide-eyed responses.
It should be pointed out once more that Zodiac is a Fincher film. And while it doesn’t have the audience appeal of other Fincher titles such as Seven or Panic Room, Zodiac is chock full of many of the director’s trademarks. Fincher’s one-of-a-kind camera movements and storybook-like cinematography give the film, and more specifically the murder scenes, a somewhat operatic quality almost never seen in a movie like this. Meanwhile, techniques such as showing the construction of a city skyscraper from start to finish played out alongside period music to show the passage of time are classic Fincher. It would be far too easy to continuously slap “three years later” onto the screen.
There’s excellent work from the likes of Dermot Mulroney, Brian Cox, and Chloe Sevigny (as Graysmith’s eternally patient wife), but the film belongs to the three leads, each of whom give some of the best work of their careers.
Gyllenhaal is perfect as an ordinary man drawn into this trail of murder, and the way he plays Graysmith’s changing mental state during his gradual descent into the world of the Zodiac is a wonder to watch. Likewise, Ruffalo plays his Inspector Toschi with great frustration as someone who becomes more and more torn apart by the Zodiac with regard to his career and reputation.
As the link between Graysmith and Toschi, Downey is the sole focus of any scene he is in. Zodiac was made during that period when the actor was between clocking hours in supporting roles such as The Shaggy Dog and selling his soul to the Marvel universe. It was a rare quality part for Downey, and with his mix of usual one-liners and deft seriousness, the actor was never better.
Zodiac was originally scheduled for a fall 2006 release, placing it in a prime spot for awards consideration. However, complaints from the studio over the film’s runtime led to Fincher heading back into the editing room in an effort to trim down the 3-hour film, ultimately surrendering its fall release slot. When a shortened version of Zodiac was released in the spring of 2007, it received little fanfare despite the almost unanimous praise it received from critics.
The film’s visibility has improved slightly since release, yet with a filmography such as Fincher’s which has since gone on to include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Gone Girl to the list, Zodiac may forever remain a passed over curio as well as an exquisite retelling of one of the most notorious serial killer cases of all time.
