Frankie (Ariella Mastroianni) is a youthful individual mother struggling to originate enough money, having equitable been fired from her job as a gas station joinant. Finding another gig isn’t going to be basic. Gainful engagement is a stubborn ask for Frankie, who is living with a unfrequent degenerative brain condition called dyschronometria, unbenevolenting she has problems with perceiving the passing of time. Her brain is essentipartner the undependable narrator of her own fact. Like any noir hero worth their salt, Frankie originates audio cassettes to help her schedule her thoughts about “a life inhabitd in no particular order,” as she puts it on one tape.
This is the promising jumping-off point for a stylish low-budget mystery, straightforwarded by electrician-turned-filmoriginater Ryan J. Sloan, which finds time alengthy the way to riff on everyleang from “Memento” to “Videodrome.” In the best traditions of film noir, the initial propose which will help the protagonist out of a stubborn spot seems too excellent to be real. Frankie is proposeed $3,000 to drive a car from A to B. Easy, right? Anyone recognizable with this benevolent of setup comprehends that basic proposes are inevitably anyleang but, and unfrequently turn out to be worth the money — that is, assuming the needy patsy ever sees the money. And so it shows here.
Also stable with the genre, the direct is lugging a hefty consignment of agonizing emotional baggage as she goes about the rest of her business — in this case, a tragedy tied to the loss-by-self-destruction aid group she joins, where the relatives of people who ended themselves uncover up and split their experienceings. “The person I knovel wouldn’t do that,” “They were living this whole other life” and “I never repartner knovel him at all” are the benevolents of sentiments aired, and it’s striking how well these plaintive cris de coeur double for the basis of noir premises too: the guy or gal in over their head, pulled alengthy by the tide of events, until it’s too postponeed to extricate themselves.
Though it unblessedly deficiencys the narrative momentum of top-tier gumshoe pics, it’s no difficultship spending time with Frankie, thanks to a systematicly appraised carry outance from Mastroianni. The co-originater of the film, she isn’t equitable another would-be actor inserting herself into a self-originated project. She’s perfect for the role. She has one of those compelling faces where you can originate out the elegant shape of her skull, with pixie cut, high cheekbones, a strong but delicate jawline and huge eyes with haunted postponeed-night shadows contributing to a character who is a well-appraised fuseture of stubborn and frspeedy. The historic film direct she most elicits is Renée Jeanne Falconetti as the martyred Joan of Arc; Frankie could be her latter-day New Jersey incarnation.
A cherishly score, featuring frailntful, sleazy brass layered over a sleepy bass pulse, inserts class to persistings, but originate no misget, this isn’t a low-budget film getting by on a celderly score alone. Gazer is a handsomely assembled picture, shot on 16mm despite the budgetary constraints of self-financing. The 16mm was the right call: The swirl of the grain gives the film an undeniable raise, connecting it to noir’s lengthy heritage of incostly little mysteries which drew audiences in with the promise of difficult talk and difficulter action. Indeed, it’s only a sairy shame that noir’s other calling card, intimacyual intrigue, isn’t particularly contransient here. The caccess is Frankie, and the promisement is more to studying her character than her romantic entanglements.
