Thursday, October 1, 2009
Film Fear X = Mall Cops and Post-9/11 Angst
Posted by Benjamin Mercer on Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 8:25 AM
Conspicuous American flags, an early 2002 timestamp on the pored-over videos, and characters intent on justice suggest Refn and co-writer Hubert Selby Jr. aren't so much interested in offering a coded resolution to their murdered-wife scenario as using its fractured pieces to probe post-9/11 national dread. Refn and Selby appear to be subtly recalibrating the Blow-Up/Conversation/Blow Out the-closer-you-look-the-less-you-really-know conceit for the media-saturated aughts (Turturro's character, Harry Caine, views his surveillance tapes at home while snacking in his recliner), but even this sometimes seems like another blind alley. Fear X frustrates pretty routinely, but watching such tentative hokum presented with such serene confidence is a rare pleasure of its own.
Fear X screens at BAM tonight, kicking off a Refn retro running through Sunday.
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