45 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
45 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
it's wednesday , march 27 , and a murder investigation is underway in charlotte , south carolina .
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the crime : a young prostitute , elizabeth ( renee zellweger ) , has been brutally slain .
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one half of her severed body was found in a bag at the train station .
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the other half was discovered in a trunk at the harbor authority , miles away .
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the police duo of braxton ( chris penn ) and kennesaw ( michael rooker ) are strapped for leads .
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at the moment , they have only one possible suspect : wayland ( tim roth ) , a wealthy , unemployed genius who graduated summa cum laude from princeton and appears to be the least likely character to commit such a heinous act .
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that's the premise for deceiver , a new thriller from the pate brothers , jonas and josh , who made their mark on the film world two years ago at sundance with the movie the grave .
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deceiver plays out like a mind game between the intellectually superior wayland and the two not- so-bright cops ( captions early in the proceedings let us know that wayland's iq is 151 ; by contrast , kennesaw's is 122 and braxton's is 102 ) .
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the setting is a police interrogation room where a lie detector test is about to be administered .
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over three days , as wayland returns to answer more questions , the drama and tension among these three characters gradually escalates until , inevitably , it boils over .
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other plot elements are thrown in for good measure .
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wayland suffers from a peculiar kind of epilepsy that can , in stressful situations , render him virtually catatonic or extremely violent .
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braxton , a compulsive gambler , is deep in debt to a local syndicate .
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and kennesaw is haunted by a dark , abusive side that delights in terrorizing women , especially his wife ( rosanna arquette ) , whom he suspects of being unfaithful .
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the foibles and failings of these three are brought into the open as the mystery around elizabeth's death deepens and it becomes unclear who has the upper hand : the suspect or his questioners .
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deceiver , which mostly transpires in a dimly-lit room and involves a lot of smart dialogue , has the feel of a david mamet play : edgy , claustrophobic , and tense .
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the atmosphere is explosive , and some of pivotal moments of confrontation are riveting .
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deceiver has the power to grab an audience .
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unfortunately , in the end , it succumbs to the need to throw in one last , unexpected twist , and this is its undoing .
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for , while this surprise will certainly shock most viewers , it also stretches our credulity too much , and raises more questions than it answers .
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it's only an effective wrap-up if you don't think too carefully about its full implications .
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of course , the film as a whole plays fast and loose with reality and logic .
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police procedure is totally ignored and it's almost impossible to accept that any criminal investigation would or could proceed in this manner .
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but the real focus in deceiver is on character interaction , not plot details .
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deceiver only occasionally gets out of the police station , and those instances occur primarily during flashbacks featuring the prostitute .
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the pates employ a number of interesting techniques to present vignettes from elizabeth's final days and hours .
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the most intriguing of these is to use an unreliable narrator while underlining the discrepancies in his voice-over by visually showing what really happened .
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moments like this are too effective to be dismissed as gimmicks .
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the movie , obviously fashioned in the manner of classic film noir , drips atmosphere .
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there are some fascinating stylistic touches ; for example , although the setting is contemporary , all of the telephones are old-fashioned , rotary models .
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cinematographer bill butler is given an opportunity to use unconventional camera work to liven up deceiver's look .
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some of the things he tries ( mostly those that involve the contrast between light and shadow ) work exceptionally well , while others ( like any of several lazy susan shots ) seem more like unnecessary visual tricks .
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as wayland , tim roth gives the film's top performance , despite occasionally treading the tightrope between acting and overacting .
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roth makes us believe that wayland is both as brilliant and as troubled as he's supposed to be .
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the other two leads , chris penn and michael rooker , aren't as effective .
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both play their characters like familiar types .
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penn's performance is uninspired ; rooker's lacks subtlety .
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some of the best work is turned in by the supporting actors .
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renee zellweger , in a role that's miles away from her star-making turn in jerry maguire , brings a note of vulnerability and humanity to a part that could easily have become a caricature .
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rosanna arquette is solid as kennesaw's wife , and michael parks delivers several wonderful scenes as a psychiatrist who's entrusted with evaluating wayland's condition .
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one of the best things about deceiver is that it never talks down to the audience .
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plot points aren't hammered home , and , although the ending has its weaknesses , everything isn't spelled out in bold letters .
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the pates give audience members credit for having brains , which is an increasingly rare characteristic for film makers .
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occasionally gripping and never uninteresting , deceiver is a fine noir effort .
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