Reviewer: Jeffrey Anderson
Rating (out of 5): **½
[Note: Critics are supposed to be infallible, and once on record we're supposed to stick to our guns, come hell or high water. In reality however, we're all human, and we're subject to whims and urges and other influences. A few weeks back I received a DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment, entitled Look, written and directed by Adam Rifkin. I was curious, so I watched it. To put a point to it, the film made me very uncomfortable, and it conjured up a kind of resentment in me. I spewed out a review that I thought was appropriately angry, but also funny and snarky. The next day I had second thoughts about the review, and I considered not posting it. But in my busy schedule I got lazy and posted it anyway. Who was really going to read it, anyway? A little over a week later, I got a message on my voicemail from none other than Adam Rifkin. He left me his home phone number and asked me to call him back. Now, if I had been perfectly comfortable with the review, I probably would have ignored the call, but I wasn't sure, and I wanted to hear what Mr. Rifkin had to say. So I called. To his credit, he spoke calmly and did not try to berate me. He had never actually called a critic before, he said. He explained that he thought some of the things in the review were unfair. I told him that, to be honest, I thought he was right. It was a rushed, ill-considered piece of work, and his film -- any film -- deserved more. You, the readers, deserve more. Here, then, is my revised review, with a new revised rating.--jma]
Here's a film that left me with one response: I wish I hadn't seen it. That's a strong reaction, and it doesn't necessarily mean the film hasn't succeeded. Catherine Breillat's Fat Girl affected me the same way back in 2001, and though I still wouldn't say I like it, many others found it to be a masterpiece, and even a great work of art. Look is shot entirely from the point of view of surveillance cameras, though its assemblage could only have been managed by someone with godlike vision. The footage comes from shopping malls, dressing rooms, police cars, parking lots, mini-marts, office buildings, elevators and more, with mounted cameras constantly running and racking up footage over the course of several weeks. (That's an overwhelmingly huge shooting ratio.) We follow several characters, starting with a teenage, high school hottie who decides she wants to sleep with her teacher. She does, and then accuses him of rape. Meanwhile, a couple of vicious cop-killers are on the loose, as well as a child kidnapper/child molester. We get images of a clumsy nerd who is the constant butt of practical jokes at his office. Then there's a department store manager who has sex with all his female employees, and in-between masturbates and snorts coke. And a gas station snack shop clerk occasionally practices his peculiar rock songs.
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Jim Van Maanen's reviews and ratings (out of 5 stars)
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