Two Lovers

There's a real sense of craftsmanship to this tale by director James Gray, who's taking a sharp left-turn after those crime thrillers, The Yards and We Own the Night.

At bottom, it's the simple, universal story of a man named Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix) attempting to choose between two women (Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw). It's small and intimate and romantic, and terribly stylish, as well as displaying a finely-honed narrative gift.

Leonard is not a particularly good catch - he's recently moved back home after breaking up with his fiancee, he's bi-polar, and while he does have an interest in photography, he earns his crust working in his parents' dry cleaning business. The dry cleaning shop may soon be merged into another cleaning empire, run by the Cohen family, who have a daughter Sandra (Shaw) who is pretty and agreeable and pleasantly honest about her feelings for Leonard, who is, as you might expect, eager to get up and running in the relationship stakes again.

The problem is Michelle (Paltrow), the woman he glimpses across the street, who is blonde and frosty yet alluring, who invites him out clubbing with her friends, takes ecstasy, but who ultimately reveals that she has a rich boyfriend, who is married with a family.

Leonard, however, does not turn and run into the open arms of Sandra; instead he dallies between the two of them, lusting after Michelle and there as soon as she calls, but unwilling to step off the familiar dry land Sandra offers. It's a stunning, rich, perfectly weighted movie - and, with its graceful shots of New York, beautiful too. ·