****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Pressure cooker of a film with an organic, well-constructed plot. Stellar performances.Saw it once and liked it. Saw it a second time (intending just to skip through and re-familiarize myself with characters, happenings) and totally enjoyed re-watching the pieces of the story fly, then fall into place. Appreciated the artistic composition of the shots and scenes: montage of Karen rehearsing her speech, cut with her giving the speech. Shot of Clayton, left alone in the grays and whites of the office. He's in black suit with a white shirt, holding a red binder in one hand. Shot of horses on a hill, matching an illustration in his son's fantasy novel.You can feel the building, impossible pressure on all the characters, everyone is in a tough spot, and making tough moral and practical choices. Michael Clayton in particular. It's tension upon tension. Difficult, nasty job. Insufficient time with his kid. Painful financial deadline. Family tendency toward addiction. Good friend and colleague having a mental breakdown. Exhaustion. All while trying to keep his game face for those around him.Fortunately, the viewer gets little bits of comic relief and a couple explosions.The information dropped to the viewer is purposely less than you expect. You get little "aha" moments as they catch you up with what's been happening.Get your popcorn, turn out the lights. Watch it all the way through like a movie.
