Two Lovers

Oy vey! Is Joaquin Phoenix really giving up acting for rapping? Let’s hope not because Two Lovers is his best performance since 2005’s Walk the Line. Phoenix plays Leonard, a thirty-something depressive who moves back in with his family and starts working for his dad’s dry cleaning business. His parents fix him up with a nice Jewish girl (Vinessa Shaw) but Leonard’s the kind of guy who likes things that aren’t good for him, so when the icy blonde from upstairs (Gwyneth Paltrow) pops into his life, he’s a goner. Phoenix is fantastic, loping around corners and skulking in the shadows like a moody teenager. Director James Gray sticks to his familiar palette of twilight blues and greys but after crime thrillers The Yards and We Own the Night he finds something a lot more potent in this earnest and angst-ridden love story that despite its look is rather uplifting. [Marjorie Gallagher]