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2009’s Top 10 Repeat Offenders in James Gray and Joaquin Phoenix

Gray placed Phoenix in a far more venerable role in their third time out. After The Yards (2000), We Own the Night (2007), the 2008 Cannes title that got release early 2009 Two Lovers saw Phoenix in his own Betty and Veronica dilemma.

Eric Lavallée

Published on January 4, 2010

#9. TWO LOVERS

Gray placed Phoenix in a far more venerable role in their third time out. After The Yards (2000), We Own the Night (2007), the 2008 Cannes title that got release early 2009 Two Lovers saw Phoenix in his own Betty and Veronica dilemma. What will be known as Phoenix’s last role before he took on the fake rapper project with buddy Casey Affleck, it was fun to see the actor play the tortured soul in a situation that many folk would welcome. His performance actually lingered on beyond the film’s run time, and I hope to see this pairing work again in the new decade.

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Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).