Closer

[cine]

It looks extremely un-staged.

Well, sorry to disappoint you but those are all extras reacting to her walking down the sidewalk.. it's staged.

[mutinyco]

Brilliant.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Well, sorry to disappoint you but those are all extras reacting to her walking down the sidewalk.. it's staged.

Silly Cinephile! Extras don't act!

[cine]

.. you are not the landscape.

[Ghostboy]

A Natalie Portman stalker fan website has on-set pictures of (I'm assuming) the scene you're talking about at the bottom of this page.

That is one creepy website. Sometimes I wonder if I like Natalie Portman too much, but now I know I don't.

Re: the pictures: zoom lens + natural light + talented NY extras = non-staged looking shoot.

[mutinyco]

Re: the pictures: zoom lens + natural light + talented NY extras = non-staged looking shoot.

It's just not credible that they'd shut down a Times Square intersection and fill it with that many extras just to get a shot of somebody walking down the street. They might close off one sidewalk for a finite distance, but these photos make it look like she's walking freely. The reactions on the people's faces are immediate and almost with a look of surprise -- like they're reacting to Natalie Portman, not just a hottie passing by.

Though I could be wrong...

[grand theft sparrow]

But then again, Mike Nichols is brilliant; it's well within his powers to make a staged shot look unstaged.  My guess is that it was staged, because it did end in a crane shot, if I'm not mistaken.  It would have been kind of hard to have Natalie Portman walking through Times Square, have average joes turning their heads to gawk at her and not start staring at this crane across the street with a camera on it.

After reading mutinyco's breakdown of the final shot, I've warmed up to it. I still think it's a bit overrated on this board anyway but I get it now.

What are the men looking at? A sex object. They're not really interested in who she is. It's her exterior.

And that's exactly how Alice wants it (I'm probably not the only guy on this board who had a girlfriend like this, am I?).  She's in a new city where she can reinvent herself and she doesn't want anyone to see more of her than what she has on display, yet she still justifies to herself that she's giving a lot because she's a stripper; she's giving as much of herself (on a superficial level) as she is willing to and it's all non-committal so she's still in her comfort zone.

Goddamn, I need to see this again.

[mutinyco]

Yeah, it definitely looks like she's walking freely. What they might've done is use extras to turn and look at her...

[metroshane]

anyone notice that alice is about to cross the intersection with a "don't walk" sign on?  And so the cycle continues.

[Gamblour.]

Yeah I remember that, pretty funny.

[ono]

anyone notice that alice is about to cross the intersection with a "don't walk" sign on?  And so the cycle continues.

That's it, I take back everything I said.  This movie is a masterpiece.  And if anyone believed that, I have some nice beachfront property to sell you.

Anyway, I still don't buy the whole "everyone asks questions about infidelity" thing.  To me, it still sounds so juvenile.  It is something I believe people should outgrow.  It shouldn't be the concern if you've found someone is cheating on you.  There is so much more to consider that "did you come?" and "was s/he better than me?" should've been thoughts abandoned years ago.

[Ravi]

Anyway, I still don't buy the whole "everyone asks questions about infidelity" thing.  To me, it still sounds so juvenile.  It is something I believe people should outgrow.  It shouldn't be the concern if you've found someone is cheating on you.  There is so much more to consider that "did you come?" and "was s/he better than me?" should've been thoughts abandoned years ago.

Considering how Clive Owen was introduced into the story he is a sexually immature person, so it felt believeable that he would ask those questions.  "Was he better than you" seems like it would be a common question for anyone in that situation.

[UncleJoey]

It is something I believe people should outgrow.

Yes, it's something people should outgrow, but few people actually do. It's the same with fighting (I mean in the physical sense) or Full House - things we should lose interest in as we grow older and (presumably) wiser, but never do.

[Finn]

This movie really was incredible. Very sad and brutal, but so well done. All the performances are great and the writing is superb. I really loved the opening sequence particularly with The Blower's Daughter playing.

[ono]

I think I just vomited a little bit in my mouth.