David Fincher Zodiac

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It took about four films for me to realize, but David Fincher is one of my favorite directors working today. I’ve liked all his movies to varying degrees, and those I’ve like less than most people, like “The Social Network,” I’m eager to see again so I can revaluate them. The Fincher film I’ve wanted to see the most for quite some time, is “Zodiac,” his sometimes forgot 2007 serial killer film. I was ecstatic when this movie appeared on Netflix. I was less ecstatic after watching it, as it ranks as my least favorite Fincher film so far. This movie follows those investigating the titular serial killer who terrorized California in the 1960s and early 1970s with his grisly, highly publicized murders. The movie focuses on Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), a cartoonist and amateur detective who works at “The San Francisco Chronicle,” one paper …show more content…

He and his cinematographer Harris Savides shoot “Zodiac” with Fincher’s typical crispness. The images all look perfect, with a good mix of beauty and mood lighting to make them more exciting. Fincher and screenwriter James Vanderbilt also earn points by doing a great job of keeping up the suspense, especially in the first hour and a half or so of the picture. These two follow the investigation in such a way that the rate at which we learn information, and the new twists the case takes, come at just the right time to peak our interest. Fincher and Vanderbilt also impress, throughout the movie, with their meticulous attention to detail. “Zodiac” is not about the serial killer, or even the people pursuing him, but about the investigation. It’s fetishistic in how thoroughly it chronicles the protagonists’ efforts to hunt down the murderer. While it can become a bit numbing at times because of its detail, one cannot help but admire the work that went in to crafting and bringing to a life a story like

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