THE MONUMENTS MEN directed by George Clooney, written by Clooney and Grant Heslov from the book by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter, with Clooney, Matt Damon and Bill Murray. A Sony Pictures release. 118 minutes. Some subtitles. Opens Friday (February 7). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNNN
As a director, George Clooney seems fascinated by moral posturing: Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, Good Night, And Good Luck and The Ides Of March are all linked by characters who stand for righteousness while acting questionably. His new film, The Monuments Men, has no such ambiguity, and it turns out that clarity is kind of bracing.
This is the kind of movie nobody makes any more – a Second World War caper picture with charming character actors zipping around Europe using their wits far more than their weapons. Based on clues in Alexandre Desplat’s score, I’m thinking Clooney loves The Great Escape at least as much as I do.
Here he applies that model to the true story of a small band of art experts dispatched after D-Day to locate thousands of sculptures and paintings seized by the Nazis from Jewish collectors.
Clooney plays team leader Frank Stokes. His crew includes a Met curator (Matt Damon), a Chicago architect (Bill Murray), a New York choreographer (Bob Balaban) and a grumpy St. Louis sculptor (John Goodman). Tagging along with the Allied forces liberating Europe, they track the stolen treasures before the retreating Germans can destroy them.
Clooney’s script, co-written with his long-time producer Grant Heslov, is earnest and clever, making some very good points about the importance of art to the world while telling an involving story about characters we come to adore.
In the film’s best scene, an unexpected amateur performance of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas touches someone very, very deeply, and Clooney is smart enough to let us see it happen in something close to real time, and let us feel what that person feels.
There’s more than one kind of art, after all.
normw@nowtoronto.com | @wilnervision
