Anamorph (2007)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Henry Miller

Writers:

Henry Miller (writer)
Tom Phelan (writer)

Release Date:

5 August 2008 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Thriller

Tagline:

Madness. Mayhem. Mutilation. The masterwork of a serial killer.

Plot:

A psychological thriller based on the concept of anamorphosis, a painting technique that manipulates the laws of perspective to create two competing images on a single canvas.

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Art | New York | Painting | Black Light

Cast

Willem Dafoe	...	Stan Aubray
Scott Speedman	...	Carl Uffner
Don Harvey	...	Michael C.
James Rebhorn	...	Chief Lewellyn Brainard
Peter Stormare	...	Blair Collet
Amy Carlson	...	Alexandra Fredericks
Yul Vazquez	...	Jorge 'George' Ruiz
Clea DuVall	...	Sandy Strickland
Samantha MacIvor	...	Crystal
Billy Wheelan	...	Young Man
Paz de la Huerta	...	Young Woman
Desiree Casado	...	Teenage Checkout Girl (as Desiree F. Casado)
Robert C. Kirk	...	Heavy-Set Detective
Robin Goldsmith	...	Stone-Faced Detective
Marcia Haufrecht	...	Diner Waitress

MPAA:

Rated R for disturbing grisly images, some violence and language.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:MA | Netherlands:16 | Finland:K-15

Filming Locations:

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Kamala Films

Goofs:

Continuity: When Stan meets his former partner, he rolls down the window of his car on the passenger's's side. During this scene the height of he window is changes in every shot.

Quotes:

Medical Examiner: [after performing autopsy] His intestines have been removed. The killer went to the trouble of removing them, and enclosing the incision before he strung him up.

Anamorph: the truth depends on where you stand

Anamorph is a unique film on many levels. It is about an ex-detective, named Stan (Willem Dafoe), who is asked by the NYPD to solve a series of murders that are eerily familiar to the Uncle Eddie murders he solved five years earlier. Are these murders committed by a copycat or did they get the wrong man the first time round? What makes this movie all the more interesting is that the murderer has an obsession with Renaissance art. This would not be a problem under normally, except that he murders his real people and then arranges them in a particular way before painting them. He also uses artistic tricks (like anamorphosis) in his works.

Now some reviewers have compared this movie to Silence of the Lambs, which is not really fair (in the academic sense) because Anamorph really stands on its own. Sure there is a lot of blood and gore and body parts (this is not a movie for children), but these sights are in aid of an entirely different purpose -- art, not cannibalism. It is also worth noting that this film did not rely on the shock value of graphic violence, like many slasher films do. One reviewer, who is a fan of psycho thrillers, correctly observed that you never see any scenes where the killer is murdering his subject and cutting him or her up into pieces. I also believe, unlike some of the reviewers here, that there wasn't anything wrong with any of the performances. True, Stan is a loan wolf who withholds information and acts irrationally at times. But this behavior is explained to us in the film. Willem Dafoe plays a man haunted by his failure to save a girl from Uncle Eddie and who is often so depressed and withdrawn that he rarely opens up to others (who would really listen? he may be asking himself) and often finds solace in the bottle. Of course, there are better performances than others. The low-level art dealer (Peter Stormare in a wonderful performance) is undoubtedly the best thing in this picture. He provides the drama and the depth that a movie like this needs.

So what's wrong with this movie? Anamorph has some truly spectacular scenes (such as the girl walking passed the ray of light in the beginning of the film to name one), but there are other scenes that do not work. For example, the flashbacks are shown in such a bright light that the colours seem to fade away. It is almost as though you are seeing a black and white movie of poor quality made in the 1920s or early 1930s or a film that was shot with a cheap video camera. The film also lacks nity. Sometimes the film seems to pick up and you feel you are getting involved with the characters on screen, then it becomes boring and you start to lose interest. It also does not help that the music score is so damnably gloomy. The film sometimes feels like you are visiting someone else's funeral; you don't care about the dead person either way, but the atmosphere is so gloomy that you would prefer not to be there. Only at the very end does the music become really good with its mournful violins. But with all that said, Anamorph is still a movie worth watching even if it falls short of being a gem.