The Good German

Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s 11, 12, and 13) knows his genres and his styles, and The Good German is his attempt to recreate a 1940s film noir within the conventions and limitations prevailing at the time. Thus the movie is in shadowy black and white, the streets of post-war Berlin are wet, everyone smokes and the femme fatale (Cate Blanchett) struts her stuff. ‘At the end of war not everyone finds peace’ runs the tag-line, and this unsettling idea is the underlying metaphor as hot war turns to cold war, espionage to betrayal. However, the movie’s concession to modern sensibilities (sexual frankness) partially undermines the noir feel and George Clooney’s acting style (good for the 1950s) doesn’t quite cut it for the 1940s. An interesting homage to noir style more imitative than re-creative, more academic than entertaining.