Wicker Park (2004) * * *

Directed by:  Paul McGuigan

Starring:  Josh Hartnett, Rose Byrne, Diane Kruger, Matthew Lillard, Jessica Pare

I first saw Wicker Park ten years ago and I found it to be a hidden gem, ignored at the box office, but containing romance, passion, and mystery.    Ten years later, upon second viewing, it is still an unabashedly romantic, passionate film, but I felt the plot mechanics churning more this time around.    Wicker Park is about a man obsessed with tracking down his ex-flame who vanished mysteriously from his life two years earlier.    She was the love of his life, but after seemingly moving on and becoming engaged to another woman, he thinks he spots her in a downtown Chicago restaurant and that is that.   He puts his life on hold tracking her down, narrowly missing her in at least a half dozen places.  

Two years earlier, Matthew (Hartnett) first sees Lisa (Kruger) on the street and falls in love at first sight.   He follows her around like a quasi-stalker, but this intrigues her rather than creeps her out.    They go out on a date and then fall in love.    After a time of bliss, he asks her to move to New York with him.     After a cryptic answer, Lisa leaves suddenly for a European tour (she is a dancer) and he heartbreakingly moves on with his life, assuming her answer is no. 

Flash forward to present day.   Matthew tracks Lisa to various places, all the while enlisting the aid of his friend Luke (Lillard), who himself is trying to establish a relationship with a cold, distant actress named Alex (Byrne).    Alex clearly has other things on her mind.   While treading lightly as I discuss plot points, Alex plays a bigger role in the events of the past and present than initially expected.

The true nature of the film's events are told in flashbacks, flash forwards, and even flash-sideways, to quote a line from Funny Farm (1988).   We see exactly what happened and why.   We sense the unscrupulous passion behind it.    There are layers of deception within all of the main characters, except maybe wide-eyed, lovelorn Luke, who doesn't realize he is just a cog in a larger plot machine.   

The near-misses between Matt and Lisa soon become almost laughable.   He bends down to pick something up moments before she exits a building and is stopped by a random woman asking directions.   They miss each other by that much.   She calls him while he's in the shower and he doesn't hear the phone.   Etc. Etc.   There are many contrivances designed to keep the two apart, although a phone call or a face-to-face visit could've solved the whole misunderstanding.    It is also helpful that not one of the characters owns a cell phone.     Otherwise the movie would've been over a lot more quickly.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the absurdities of Wicker Park anyway, because we are swept up in the romantic notion of Lovers Kept Apart.    Hartnett's Matt is put through the emotional wringer, but he has a conviction which carries the film along.     He knows Lisa is out there somewhere and he will find her.    I also felt a little sorry for Alex, who despite it all will not find true love.    Not in this story anyway.