ANAMORPH (2007) Dir. Henry Miller, 107 mins Blimey, what is it with big-time actors appearing in these pages lately? After two appearances from none other than Reese Witherspoon, as well as films with Christian Bale and Kiefer Sutherland, the dark thriller Anamorph sees a second visit from the legendary Willem Dafoe this month alone (after his relatively small role in that adaptation of American Psycho). This was a movie I watched some time ago, and had fairly fond memories of, so I was looking forward to getting stuck into a revisit. It’s not a terribly well-known movie, but if you fancied a watch this is currently free to view on Amazon Prime… Dafoe plays semi-retired detective Stan Aubray, whom we first encounter teaching, but it’s not long before he’s called back to the force when a killer appears that seems to follow the same methodology as Uncle Eddie, a case Aubray worked on many years before. The murderer’s technique is anamorphosis, and he elaborately breaks his victims’ bodies down into spectacular pieces of art that appear to be one thing from one angle but something entirely different from another. And in this tangled web of clues, Aubray finds himself deep into the manhunt once again… That may not quite do Anamorph justice, as I have to give this movie credit for being a unique idea I’ve never seen the likes of before. On top of that, some of the visuals are incredible, and must have really exercised the imaginations of the team involved and indeed the skills of the cinematographer. Much as it is grim and dark and grimy, but it’s hard not to admire some of the artistry on display. With that said, this one is ultimately kind of slow and plodding, and it’s hard to say that Dafoe is an absolute top form here – he’s good as always, but the whole role is a bit buttoned down and maybe doesn’t show him off to his best capacity. Apparently, he took a bit of talking into the role, and as such maybe he’s not absolutely committed to this one. The side cast are generally solid, and there are some fun cameos, including Mick Foley and Debbie Harry both popping up at pretty random moments. But with all that said, the whole thing is just dry and slow – it’s a movie that probably would have benefitted from a shorter runtime, and while the central conceit is certainly an interesting one it feels stretched pretty thin here. It lacks the tautness of similar sorts of movies, and you couldn’t really call it a classic horror-thriller despite some good elements. I didn’t feel the sort of emotional connection that I would have liked to either, which made things feel hollow for me. The overall colour scheme is generally unappealing, which I assume is to make the artistry of our killer stand out, but it does make the whole thing feel drab. This one did some to come and go with very little notice, and it’s not utterly surprising. I feel as though a movie like Waz would probably be a better bet if this sort of thing is your bag, or maybe even a revisit to something like Saw. In fact, I keep thinking to myself that feels like something I should revisit myself but bearing in mind there are eight of those that could wind up being a big job… RATING: 5.5/10. It’d be unfair to say there’s anything egregiously wrong with Anamorph, but equally there’s no great amount to really make it stand out from the crowd – and it didn’t hold up well on a second viewing, withering under the lights somewhat. Despite a potentially interesting premise which did send me scurrying to the internet to find out more about it, this one never really captures the imagination and I found myself a little bored at certain junctures throughout. Cutting fifteen to twenty minutes off would have been a help, and maybe you could have made things a little bit livelier, both visually and in terms of the acting performances. It’s very cerebral, but sadly doesn’t really hit all its marks. I’m happy to go just a scooch above average at 5.5/10. TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE [BOOK REVIEW] |
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