Look
Director Adam Rifkin takes an interesting idea - that of the preponderance of surveillance cameras in all our lives, and runs with it. Look is a narrative film, our characters meeting and developing gradually via footage from mall stores, ATMs, cop cars, convenience stores, parking lots, lobby cameras, etc. It would be tempting to pull a Crash and have all of these stories twine together and resolve magically. I’ll tell you right now, they do not; the dissatisfaction itself is a little satisfying. The purpose of these cameras, ostensibly, is to prevent some or most of the things that occur on screen in Look, or to enable justice to be served afterward at least. Clearly, they are only as good a deterrent as their awareness of them allows.
What Look reveals is that we all have the capacity to be criminals, losers, liars, misanthropes, fools, and heroes (if we let ourselves). It also shows that despite the four million hours of footage shot by 30 million cameras in the U.S., humanity (good and bad) can stay ahead of passive surveillance. The camera is passive here, which makes for some interesting scenework. We are called upon to make our own decisions (they aren’t hard) about what’s happening but the movie never forces anything down our throats.
It’s not a slice of life movie, it’s more like a buffet. Tension mounts as we follow a suspicious character through the mall. Scary moments leap into frame or defuse quickly, or leave us dangling. Nanny cams focus on innocents under suspicions while other cameras witness the crimes being missed.
The film starts out with so many characters and locations (with some flow among them) that it feels aimless for a long time. There is so much ugliness (and humor) being captured that it’s hard not for it to feel contrived. But then, as you watch though this one camera, unable to do anything but witness, the emotional impact of all that buildup comes through. It’s not nihilistic, but it’s definitely not about people being caught on tape holding hands.
Editor Martin Apelbaum wisely fast-forwards through non-essential content, adding to the impression of this footage as found material rather than staged drama. Director of Photography Ron Forsythe does a very good job keeping to the rules of this conceit - limited camera coverage, minimal close-ups possible, high angles, etc. The actors have to behave in a naturalistic fashion but they also have to get across - to an off-kilter, unseen viewer - all that is happening in their scene. In one key scene, we see the reflection of the camera lens in glas, gazing impassively on its subjects, who are in an emotional crisis. The smooth reflection of the lens, coldly recording, not judging or caring or being actively involved (or even manned) struck a chord in me. It’s a challenging project all around. It’s a very interesting experiment, one which I found entertaining, nervewracking, and rewarding.
If Crash had been this interesting it might have deserved that Oscar; this movie lacks polish but that is precisely what makes it work. Check it out if you can.
MPAA Rating R-Strong sexual content, pervasive language, violence, drug use
Release date 12/14/07
Time in minutes 98
Director Adam Rifkin
Studio Liberated Artists
