(Is a *SPOILER* warning necessary for a true story?)
So I actually paid to see a movie last night, and while I usually enjoy the first feature more when I double dip at the multiplex, I was more entertained by the "free" second feature I saw (BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, but I digress).
AUTO FOCUS is a bleak, depressing biopic of a Hollywood has-been (Bob Crane of "Hogan's Heroes"). Now, "bleak," "depressing," and "Hollywood" are normally ingredients of a film that I would enjoy, but although AUTO FOCUS was a flawlessly produced and directed drama (with another excellent, creepy score by Angelo Badalamenti), it failed to connect with me. Maybe this is because the life of an actor I knew little about didn't allow me to care much about it, or perhaps when a famous unsolved murder is dramatized for the big screen there's an inherent lack of closure to the story (like, say, SILKWOOD).
Or maybe it was the sex. AUTO FOCUS feels wall-to-wall with it, and it's got the most female nudity I've seen in an American movie since SHOWGIRLS. Like BOOGIE NIGHTS, the central characters are having sex on camera whenever they can, but don't seem to be enjoying the act on an erotic level (those thinking about seeing AUTO FOCUS for kinky thrills should keep in mind that this movie is about as big a turn-on as CRASH). Oh, and in a related thought, I wondered while watching this movie if women during the sexual revolution indeed had augmented breasts as seen here.
The acting, however, is terrific. I'm not a big fan of either Greg Kinnear or Willem Dafoe, but each inhabited his role with the truth and insight demanded by the story; their characters' symbiotic relationship was compelling and completely believable, and I wonder if it was actually more intimate than the movie depicts. I wouldn't be surprised if both actors were nominated for Academy Awards next year.
One more thing. Now, I realize this isn't the movie's fault, but during two scenes of Crane receiving fellatio on videotape were pixelled in the movie, leading me to complain once again about the MPAA. Like EYES WIDE SHUT, a movie by a veteran filmmaker (AUTO FOCUS director Paul Schrader also helmed AFFLICTION, and his career goes back to the '70's porno-and-prostitution classic HARDCORE) is slapped with an NC-17 until edited for an "R," therefore allowing access to a young audience that has no business seeing a movie like this in the first place. Why, Jack Valenti, why? The digital manipulation in AUTO FOCUS is completely inappropriate in both context and style, and I wonder why Schrader didn't just ignore the system and release this film unrated. AUTO FOCUS is NOT a movie for a mass audience, so was the reason for this self-censorship Oscar-related?
Anyway, AUTO FOCUS may appeal more to older moviegoers who grew up watching "Hogan's Heroes" and have a taste for downbeat morality tales. I praise AUTO FOCUS for its acting and technical merits, but it's not something I'd recommend to the average movie fan, and I'm not likely to watch it again myself.
7/10
So I actually paid to see a movie last night, and while I usually enjoy the first feature more when I double dip at the multiplex, I was more entertained by the "free" second feature I saw (BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, but I digress).
AUTO FOCUS is a bleak, depressing biopic of a Hollywood has-been (Bob Crane of "Hogan's Heroes"). Now, "bleak," "depressing," and "Hollywood" are normally ingredients of a film that I would enjoy, but although AUTO FOCUS was a flawlessly produced and directed drama (with another excellent, creepy score by Angelo Badalamenti), it failed to connect with me. Maybe this is because the life of an actor I knew little about didn't allow me to care much about it, or perhaps when a famous unsolved murder is dramatized for the big screen there's an inherent lack of closure to the story (like, say, SILKWOOD).
Or maybe it was the sex. AUTO FOCUS feels wall-to-wall with it, and it's got the most female nudity I've seen in an American movie since SHOWGIRLS. Like BOOGIE NIGHTS, the central characters are having sex on camera whenever they can, but don't seem to be enjoying the act on an erotic level (those thinking about seeing AUTO FOCUS for kinky thrills should keep in mind that this movie is about as big a turn-on as CRASH). Oh, and in a related thought, I wondered while watching this movie if women during the sexual revolution indeed had augmented breasts as seen here.
The acting, however, is terrific. I'm not a big fan of either Greg Kinnear or Willem Dafoe, but each inhabited his role with the truth and insight demanded by the story; their characters' symbiotic relationship was compelling and completely believable, and I wonder if it was actually more intimate than the movie depicts. I wouldn't be surprised if both actors were nominated for Academy Awards next year.
One more thing. Now, I realize this isn't the movie's fault, but during two scenes of Crane receiving fellatio on videotape were pixelled in the movie, leading me to complain once again about the MPAA. Like EYES WIDE SHUT, a movie by a veteran filmmaker (AUTO FOCUS director Paul Schrader also helmed AFFLICTION, and his career goes back to the '70's porno-and-prostitution classic HARDCORE) is slapped with an NC-17 until edited for an "R," therefore allowing access to a young audience that has no business seeing a movie like this in the first place. Why, Jack Valenti, why? The digital manipulation in AUTO FOCUS is completely inappropriate in both context and style, and I wonder why Schrader didn't just ignore the system and release this film unrated. AUTO FOCUS is NOT a movie for a mass audience, so was the reason for this self-censorship Oscar-related?
Anyway, AUTO FOCUS may appeal more to older moviegoers who grew up watching "Hogan's Heroes" and have a taste for downbeat morality tales. I praise AUTO FOCUS for its acting and technical merits, but it's not something I'd recommend to the average movie fan, and I'm not likely to watch it again myself.
7/10