Zodiac

You will be on edge from the very start of this intelligent thriller and experience emotions ranging from the ‘tell me more’ to the ‘for God’s sake make it stop!’ Never have I spent so large a proportion of a film, in which both Jake Gyllenhall and Robert Downey Jr feature, cowering with my hands over my eyes…fingers just wide enough for me to see without seeing too much.

The plot is based on the actual case files of a serial killer who identified himself as ‘Zodiac’ and who to this day has eluded punishment for the murders of an unspecified number of people in and around San Francisco between 1969 and the early ‘70s. It portrays the efforts to solve the case, which seed from harmless curiosity but swiftly develop into unhealthy interest and obsession. Due to the disconcerting fact that the case is still open, you are likely to be left with an insatiable craving at the end of the film, which is frustratingly left unfulfilled.

the advertisement for a slinky, various radio broadcasts and the faint sound of Scooby doo being watched in the background contribute to an extremely effective re-enactment

It is difficult not to become fully immersed in the plot, particularly because of the accuracy of the reconstruction of the 1970s. It is the minor details; the advertisement for a slinky, various radio broadcasts and the faint sound of Scooby doo being watched in the background that contribute to an extremely effective re-enactment, which as a viewer you cannot avoid genuinely believing in. Another striking element of this film is the frequent reference to time. I’m not talking about the overly dramatic, 24-esque: "The following takes place between 8 and 9am”, but rather, the constant reminders that the multiple homicide case at the plot’s centre is an unremitting and exasperating mystery to which key individuals gave, and continue to give, their professional and personal lives in order to solve.

Whilst I would strongly recommend Zodiac, I would warn that the words ‘sugar’ and ‘coat’ are unlikely to have been in Director David Fincher’s vocabulary and, although the film itself is relatively long, (158 minutes), not a second is wasted for sensitivity. Zodiac achieves a perfect fusion of tantalising unease and compelling apprehension. Although the formulaic ‘Hollywood happy ending’ is callously brushed aside, Fincher’s faithfulness to detail and reality generates a completely different viewing experience that is shockingly powerful.