Movie Review: Auto Focus

Auto Focus (2002) 

Directed by Paul Schrader

Written by Michael Gerbosi 

Starring Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe, Rita Wilson, Maria Bello

Release Date October 18th, 2002 

Published October 19th, 2002 

As this website's self-proclaimed Oscar expert, I had proclaimed the Oscar race on when Red Dragon was released. However with that film's mixed critical response and quickly slowing box office, it's award chances evaporated quickly. Now, after seeing Greg Kinnear and Willem Dafoe's stunning performances in Auto Focus, I can once again start talking about Oscar.

Directed by Martin Scorsese's guy Paul Schrader, Auto Focus tells the story of the rise and fall of Bob Crane. For the unfamiliar, Crane was the star of the 60's sitcom "Hogan's Heroes." Crane got his start in radio hosting the number 1 morning show in LA when he was offered "Hogan's Heroes." He almost turned the role of Colonel Hogan down because of the show's controversial setting. However. after his wife Anne (Rita Wilson) read the script and told him she thought it was funny he took the role.

"Hogan's Heroes" was an immediate success, both a blessing and a curse for Bob and his family. Success means more money and security but it also means long days and less time for the family. It was during his run as Hogan that Bob Crane met the man who would change the course of his life. John Carpenter (not to be confused with the director of the same name), an engineer with the Sony corporation. One day as he was on set installing high end audio equipment in the trailer of Crane's co-star Richard Dawson, Crane and Carpenter struck up a conversation about their mutual love of photography and a new technology that Carpenter was peddling called the personal video camera. 

Spending time with Carpenter visiting strip clubs, where he actually preferred playing drums with the house band to watching the girls strip, Crane first began to stray from his seemingly normal life. At Carpenter's urging, Crane began using his celebrity to pick up women for the two of them, luring them to Carpenter's apartment where he videotaped them having sex, a practice that became a pattern and then an obsession.

The strange pseudo-friendship of Carpenter and Crane is the seed of the film, it's drama comes from the weird uncomfortable interaction between these two odd, lonely men. I say pseudo-friendship, because Carpenter as portrayed in the film isn't so much Crane's friend as he is a hanger on, a yes man. It was Carpenter who helped Crane to justify his self destructive behavior. Not that Carpenter was to blame for Crane destroying his two marriages or his twisted obsession's with videotaping his sexual exploits, rather, Carpenter was the devil on Crane's shoulder whispering in his ear telling him he was normal and healthy and there was nothing wrong with what they were doing. Carpenter was the classic enabler.

Greg Kinnear has certainly left "Talk Soup" in the rearview mirror and Auto Focus is very likely to bring him his second Oscar nomination, the first was for his supporting turn As Good As It Gets. Willem Dafoe as Carpenter is also likely to have a shot at Oscar gold. So far this year I have yet to have seen a more effective supporting performance.

Bob Crane Jr. consulted on Auto Focus, helping Director Paul Schrader and Kinnear understand his father's mannerisms and consulting with screenwriter Michael Gerbosi on events in his Dad's life. One thing Bob Crane Jr, or anyone for that matter, couldn't consult on was who killed his father. Though all available evidence points to Carpenter, who died in 1999, the police in Scottsdale, Arizona (where Crane was killed while sleeping in his hotel after a dinner theater performance) botched the case so badly that by the time Carpenter was finally investigated in 1997, evidence had been lost and prosecutors were forced to drop the case against him.

Bob Crane was one of those guys who had it all, charisma, wit, and looks. Unfortunately he lacked a moral center and his addiction to sex overcame him and likely lead to his death. Whether or not it was Carpenter who killed him remains an open question, the film does seem to posit the theory that he was the killer, though there is conjecture about the husband of one Crane's many conquests taking revenge on him. Whatever happened I guess it's fitting that the man's death should be as enigmatic as the man himself.

Movie Review: First Reformed

First Reformed (2018) 

Directed by Paul Schrader

Written by Paul Schrader 

Starring Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Phillip Ettinger

Release Date May 18th, 2018 

Published June 5th, 2018

First Reformed is a fiery, explosive and controversial movie featuring a first-rate, Oscar-calibur performance from Ethan Hawke. Directed by Paul Schrader, the writer of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull and the director of American Gigolo, First Reformed tackles environmental and religious issues and pits Ethan Hawke’s ailing priest in a battle of wills with himself, his faith and the members of his congregation.

In First Reformed, Ethan Hawke stars as Reverend Ernst Toller, a thoughtful and troubled man who has lost a child and a wife in short order. He’s also ill, suffering from an illness that may or may not be cancer but these are only the beginnings of Reverend Toller’s issues. When he’s called upon to counsel a couple, played by Amanda Seyfried and Phillip Ettinger, he’s drawn into a complicated pair of lives that will change the course of his life.

Ethan Hawke is incredible in First Reformed. While I have many issues with the movie, Hawke’s performance wills me past many of those issues with his bubbling cauldron of a performance that begins at a simmer and slowly comes to a boil. Hawke is riveting as we watch him confront his faith, his mortality, despair and the seeming limits of God’s power on Earth. It’s a performance of remarkable depth and restrained passion.

The story of First Reformed is almost entirely told in Hawke’s voice with a voiceover narration that runs through the entirety of the film, ducking out only for the most needed dialogue among characters. Otherwise it is a searing stream of consciousness as Reverend Toller writes in a series of journal entries that bind the narrative. In these entries he is confronting his doubts and fears and confronting his inability to pray and his stalling faith.

Phillip Ettinger and Amanda Seyfried are subordinate to Hawke’s performance but each fills out the story well providing the motivation of Hawke’s performance. Each of them intentionally and unintentionally drive Pastor Toller to confront parts of himself that are deeply disquieting and unendingly compelling. They are joined by excellent supporting performances from Cedric the Entertainer as a morally ambiguous fellow priest and Edward Gaston as a corporate villain who happens to be the church’s main benefactor.

Many will be put off of First Reformed because it has a hardcore leftist environmental message. Hawke’s Reverend Toller is essentially evangelized into the environmental movement and if that is not something you’re comfortable with, First Reformed may not be the movie for you. Director-writer Paul Schrader gives no quarter to climate change deniers, painting them as corrupt and opposed to the will of God in equal measure.

The ending of First Reformed nearly put me off the film entirely. Up until the final moments of First Reformed I was riveted by Ethan Hawke’s award-worthy performance and powerful voiceover narration. Then the ending arrived and my blood nearly boiled when the film simply cut to black. I sort of understand the point of the ending, it’s high art if you will but it does not make for a satisfying narrative conclusion. It’s as rushed and awkward as the rest of First Reformed is deliberate and careful.

First Reformed is available now on Blu-Ray, DVD and On-Demand. I recommend it for fans of Ethan Hawke and environmental activists as well.