"Two Lovers" will leave you shaken — and stirred

James Gray's "Two Lovers," on the surface, looks like a movie that's been made many times before: It's a romantic triangle, between a troubled young man, a sensible brunette and a dangerous blonde. But the remarkable intimacy Gray finds with his cast lifts the movie up as its quiet story unfolds, pulling us in and making the world smaller until nothing matters but these three. When it's over, you're left a little shaken, as if it all happened next door.

That said, I'm glad I watched the film several weeks ago, before Joaquin Phoenix became a national punch line — his bizarre, rambling appearance on the David Letterman show earlier this month was followed by a mocking impression by Ben Stiller on the Academy Awards broadcast. His performance here is serious and moving, with that familiar blurry mumble he brings to his dialogue. It well suits Leonard (Phoenix), a vulnerable man who isn't yet sharply formed; he's soft and vague, barely communicating with those around him. He lives with his parents (Moni Moshonov, Isabella Rossellini) in their Brooklyn apartment — a place whose slightly musty, faded clutter implies a long residency — where they all skate around Leonard's troubled state. In an early scene, we see him jump into a gray river, only to be pulled out. "I think he tried again," whispers his mother, with that despairing, terrifying beauty that only Rossellini brings.

There is, it seems, a way to ease Leonard back into normalcy: a relationship with Sandra (Vinessa Shaw), the sweet daughter of Leonard's father's business partner. The two are pushed together, and Sandra's radiant sanity seems appealing to Leonard — she wants to take care of him. But then he meets Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow), who lives upstairs and across the courtyard in his building. Her slouchy glamour, and her damsel-in-distress plight (she's trapped in a dysfunctional relationship with a married man) draws Leonard to her like a jewel thief to diamonds. At night, he stares up at her barred window where she sits, backlit and lovely, like a princess in a tower.

Gray, whose previous films have been crime thrillers, effortlessly moves into the world of romantic noir. Here, the lights of nighttime Manhattan seem to represent a magical world these characters can't quite reach, and the apartment's courtyard brings to mind the voyeur drama of "Rear Window." Phoenix makes Leonard's lovesickness as vivid as a fever; "I'll do anything for you," he says to Michelle, and means it. Toward the end, he waits in that shadowy courtyard for something that could change his life, and there's real suspense as the moments tick by. He's lost and yearning to be found — but by whom?

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com