December 2- 8, 2004

movies

Lovely Bones

pretty is as pretty does: Natalie Portman looks wistful, or angry.

Mike Nichols' beautiful people tear each other apart, again.

Closer

by Sam Adams

"It's a lie," says Alice (Natalie Portman), staring back at her own image, taking in a photography exhibit while her boyfriend flirts with the woman he'll leave her for. "It's a bunch of sad strangers photographed beautifully, and all the sad fuckers who appreciate art say it's beautiful because that's what they want to see. The exhibition is reassuring, which makes it a lie, and everyone loves a big fat lie."

It's too easy to use her words to condemn Closer, adapted by Mike Nichols from Patrick Marber's play, but the temptation certainly presents itself. More than a temptation—it's pra