Cinema Review: The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

The Adjustment Bureau, with its morose grey tones, quick-paced chase scenes and pseudo-spiritual focus, is doomed to be compared with Christopher Nolan's Inception, though the plot actually has little in common with 2010's extravaganza. Instead of a staid, defeated Leonardo DiCaprio, we have Matt Damon, his co-star from The Departed, as David, a bullish, up-and-coming politician, who stumbles onto the knowledge that his entire life has been engineered by a group of men who claim to work for someone called The Chairman. They alert him that the big man's 'Plan' entails that he not hook up with a feisty ballerina (the wonderful Emily Blunt) which would derail him from his career and ruin hers.

From the get-go, it's made clear who/what The Chairman is, as well as his workers. These are bureaucrats from the Other Side, who fascinatingly seem to have the same type of business hierarchy as a large government office and are very fond of snappy fedora hats. It's a strange, slightly silly conceit, but perhaps that's what makes it brilliant. (It also gives an excuse to quote perhaps the most unintentionally hilarious line of the year: "The most important thing to remember is that everyone wearing a hat is a threat!")

Director George Nolfi is clever not pretending that Philip K. Dick's source material isn't a little silly, and he actually embraces it. Consequently the chase scenes, with Damon being followed by ten men in sharp suits, flips between being a charming Hitchcock pastiche and actually a little frightening. Indeed, the director isn't afraid of fun - something Christopher Nolan could maybe take a lesson from.

Damon and Blunt display some of the best chemistry on-screen you are likely to see post-Golden Age Hollywood. Though their relationship is based on only three chance meetings, their slow-burning yet jovial banter makes it seem credible that they would be willing to take on God to keep it intact. John Slattery (famous for portraying silver fox Roger Sterling in Mad Men) is also terrific as a cosmic middle manager. And as David's case worker, Anthony Mackie takes what could be a small, exposition-heavy character, and turns him into a melancholic, disillusioned soul with every turn of phrase.

The man at the helm of the project, first-time director and long-time screenwriter, Nolfi makes more than a solid debut behind the camera and the whole film is smoothly shot, with numerous moments of standout cinematography. Considering where the film is based (New York), and the events that occur, there isn't a huge amount of scope to produce impressive visuals, and as such Nolfi should be very satisfied with his input. One aspect that works well is the handling of the Bureau's agents' supernatural movements. They have the ability to alter the location that appears when they step through a door, thus being able to create portals to practically anywhere they like; this is handled very slickly and never appears clunky.

Nolfi also understands that this is an entertainment commodity and he never tries to make bold political and ideological statements, perhaps barring the one time Damon refers to the people "running the country" as "idiots". The correct way to approach The Adjustment Bureau is not to put much serious thought into it. This is not the new Blade Runner; it is a long way from a thought-provoking sci-fi thriller of that particular depth although the film offers many interpretations regarding predestination. Rather, it is a romance story, juxtaposed with elements of sci-fi.

The thematic impulse behind The Adjustment Bureau is a familiar one, that true love is worth more than anything else this life has to offer. The keys to Nolfi putting it over effectively in this real world but quasi-sci-fi context are his great success in making the connection between Damon and Blunt so convincing and worth fighting for.



Summary
Lightness of touch is not what one expects in fictional portrayals of monolithic entities bent on world domination, so the subtle tone George Nolfi maintains here represents something fresh and welcome. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt are sublime.