Look
(2007)
The
Review:
There is not much to like in Adam Rifkin’s
Look, told through the gimmicky perspective of security, bank, cop, nanny a=
nd
other kinds of hidden cameras. It
is not quite Big Brother but neither is it little sister, just a queasy tal=
e of
randomly intersecting bad lives thinking they are getting away with it
all. Rifkin slices out =
the 98
percent caught on tape doing nothing wrong, content to present the 2 percen=
t--
a Lolita searching for prey, the couplings of a randy store manager, a gay
tryst, the convenience store slackers, a child stalker, the murderers and
serial criminals—as the truth.
He leaves God on the cutting room floor. The movie’s only grace
notes are the tender revelations of a nanny cam. The good conscious is lost in the =
muffle
of end reel sound and the fast forward button. Everything is evidence for t=
he
guilty and the half guilty—the tape the detective throws across the t=
able
when he catches the lie. Its justice takes everybody down.
After 45 minutes, I was resenting Rifkin gluing =
me
to the voyeur’s chairs. The
revelations were small and cramp.
There was no big point or sustaining point of view, no commentary on=
the
lack of privacy in a nation crazy for reality television—just the cam=
era
and the idiots in front of it.
The grainy, black and white, muted color, edge bending, occasionally
sharp and clear high definition camerawork, all caught in high fidelity sou=
nd
that never covered the lie, erects a wall that keeps out the compassion and=
the
insight. Look is drama bled d=
own to
dull observation. When =
the
truth comes, some get theirs and some do not. Whether it comes in a crash,=
a
divorce or prison cell, it does not matter. I stopped caring a long time ago.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>
Somewhere in the footage of captured everyday li=
ves,
there is a great drama or documentary waiting to be cut and captioned. Look gets the idea but never=
quite
gets the truth. Capture=
the
good and the bad, fine tune the point of view, give it compassion and hate,
despair and hope all caught in the man lens that pretends to be God and the=
re
might be great art hidden in the grainy soft focus and battered soundtrack =
of
our humanity. Look need=
s a
little more of the real truth for me to be enraptured. Capture that and capture me =
with
the magic of the lens. =
The
Credits:
Written and
directed by Adam Rifkin; director of photography, Ron Forsythe; edited by
Martin Apelbaum; music by B T; produced by Brad Wyman and Barry Schuler; re=
leased
by Vitagraph Films. At Angelika Film Center, Mercer and Houston Streets,
Greenwich Village. Running time: 1 hour 42 minutes.
WITH: Hayes
MacArthur (Tony Gilbert), Giuseppe Andrews (Willie), Spencer Redford (Sherri
Van Haften), Rhys Coiro (Ace), Heather Hogan (Holly), Jennifer Fontaine
(Louise), Ben Weber (Marty), Paul Shackman (Ben), Chris Williams (George
Higgins) and Jamie McShane (Barry Krebbs).
=
=
Copyright 2009 by Jonathan Moya
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