Directed by Larry Cohen. Starring Eric Bogosian, Zoë Tamerlis, Brad Rijn, Kevin O'Connor, Bill Oland, H. Richard Greene, Steven Pudenz. (R)
Disgruntled filmmaker Bogosian pressures an actress (Tamerlis) into a sexual encounter before murdering her, then decides to make a movie about the incident using the slain girl's husband (Rijn) and a lookalike (also played by Tamerlis). Strange but tantalizing premise and subject matter is ultimately undone by lack of credibility, ineffective execution of style (heavily indebted to Brian De Palma's Hitchcock homage/plagiarization phase), and Tamerlis' poor performances, one of which is also poorly dubbed. Writer/director Cohen is clearly fascinated by the confusion of reality and invention (and seems to be exorcising some film industry demons through Bogosian's egotism), but the results are far too uneven and underwhelming to invest the effort. For no apparent reason (other than maybe an out-of-place throwaway joke?), one of the head shots that Bogosian reviews while trying to find the right actress for his movie is of Dustin Hoffman in his "Tootsie" get-up.
40/100
Disgruntled filmmaker Bogosian pressures an actress (Tamerlis) into a sexual encounter before murdering her, then decides to make a movie about the incident using the slain girl's husband (Rijn) and a lookalike (also played by Tamerlis). Strange but tantalizing premise and subject matter is ultimately undone by lack of credibility, ineffective execution of style (heavily indebted to Brian De Palma's Hitchcock homage/plagiarization phase), and Tamerlis' poor performances, one of which is also poorly dubbed. Writer/director Cohen is clearly fascinated by the confusion of reality and invention (and seems to be exorcising some film industry demons through Bogosian's egotism), but the results are far too uneven and underwhelming to invest the effort. For no apparent reason (other than maybe an out-of-place throwaway joke?), one of the head shots that Bogosian reviews while trying to find the right actress for his movie is of Dustin Hoffman in his "Tootsie" get-up.
40/100