The gifted, charming, beautiful Natalie Portman seems a cinch this year for an Oscar nomination for her R-rated role in Mike Nichols' Closer as Alice, an exotic dancer who talks dirty and dresses (and undresses) provocatively for admirers Clive Owen and Jude Law.
It's a daring, image-changing adult performance, especially for a 23-year-old best known for girlish roles in George Lucas' Star Wars fantasies. But truth be told, there's a calculated, forced quality to Portman's Closer performance -- like the cold film itself -- that rarely rises above shock-value artifice.
Others remember Portman's main contribution to Film Year 2004 as the quirky and emotionally open Sam in director/actor Zach Braff's flawed but heartfelt and funny Garden State.
Maybe Garden State is more in Portman's comfort zone than her Closer angst and dancing. But Closer connects with something real in Portman -- and us. I'll take real. (Steven Rosen)
