Tony Gilroy
Michael Clayton

Scams, political conspiracies, financial and judicial messes. These are the major messes of the moment: since the beginning of the millennium, they have characterized the news of much of the globe, much more than they did in the past. So why not take inspiration from these elements to make a film? The idea came to screenwriter Tony Gilroy, best known for his screenplays for the Jason Bourne films and "The Devil's Advocate."

In 2007, Gilroy decided to embark on this new adventure and shot what is his first feature film, with producers like George Clooney
(also starring in the film) and Sydney Pollack.

The story tells of the famous lawyer Michael Clayton. His career is going fairly well, a different story for his private life: a divorce, a complicated relationship with his young son, and gambling debts make his entire existence more difficult. Yet nothing is as tangled as it is about to become. Clayton is a friend of Arthur, a schizoid lawyer who, instead of defending U North, that is, performing his role, begins to waver in his position, eventually coming to understand the true reality of things. His madness, however, does not help Clayton's work, and the two eventually find themselves within a far more complex mechanism than expected.

On these filmic coordinates that appear to leave plenty of room for a long tangle of action and espionage, the actual output of Gilroy's film is instead lacking from various perspectives. The filmmaker chooses not to focus on the spectacular aspects of the story but describes all the lengthy folds of the narrative with directorial simplicity and effectiveness. However, you will understand that two hours of film without particularly engaging events or scenes ends up being boring, an abyss into which Michael Clayton falls with all its developments. The protagonist's personal drama (a good George Clooney) does not serve a film that should make suspense and tension its driving forces.

Be clear: in its insufficiency, Gilroy's film throws interesting questions, also showing courage for the decision to tackle such a story in his first feature film. Watching the film, there is no lack of concepts or their development, but lack of "events." There is no spark that launches the entire story into a tale that the viewer wants to know immediately: the relaxed tone and the very long initial flashback do not contribute to making the film successful in terms of entertainment.

On the purely directorial level, Gilroy performs well, without smudges, as do worthy actors George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, and Pollack himself. Furthermore, for her performance in Michael Clayton, actress Tilda Swinton was awarded an Oscar.

Tony Gilroy throws interesting ideas with punctuality and precision, but he prefers a far too classic approach. The film ends up becoming a drama close to a mystery, while no thrilling situations are in sight. In all of this, the true intent of Michael Clayton becomes apparent: to snatch a few golden statuettes...

Oscar 2008 for Best Supporting Actress (Tilda Swinton).