Fear X Review
I had heard quite a lot of good things about Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn without actually having seen a single frame of his films until coming across the trailer for Pusher 2 a while back. I've since watched his stellar debut film - the original Pusher - and have his sophomore effort sitting on my coffee table awaiting a spare moment to view. And yes, he's as good as people say. And now ScreenAnarchy regular Collin Armstrong has just sent in a fantastic review for his third film, the English-language thriller Fear X starring John Turturro. This one's just had a much delayed local DVD release and I think I need to do some shopping ... you can hit the trailer for the film (under the French title Inside Job) here.
A sense of total dislocation, both mental and physical, powers Nicolas Winding Refn’s existential mystery FEAR X. Its multi-cultural, generational origins – helmed in Canada by a Dane, starring an Italian-American, co-written by an aged Brooklynite – sit flush with the film’s eerie portrayal of a world devoid of place names, time, and ultimately any apparent logic or reason. Refn’s third film (he’s since put two PUSHER sequels in the pipeline), FEAR X sat unreleased in North America for two years before Lions Gate finally debuted it on video in early 2005.
John Turturro plays a security guard named Harry, whose wife was recently killed in a random shooting at the shopping mall where he works. Dissatisfied with the results of police and FBI investigations into the crime, Harry’s been amassing profiles of people who come and go at the mall and hours of grainy surveillance footage, which he pours over night after night at home. Increasingly unstable, Harry weaves haphazard judgments and potentially hallucinated clues into an almost logical tapestry, finding his way to a nearby city and encroaching on the lives of a cop and his wife (James Remar and Deborah Kara Unger) with increasingly dangerous abandon. Any sense that Harry’s quest will provide him even some answers or solace is left for the viewer to discern – Refn’s film is more focused on studying the isolation and uniqueness of individuals and their experiences than providing a cathartic thriller. FEAR X floats along in such a strange, indistinct zone that it ultimately leaves the viewer without a true resolution, only a challenge to push deeper into its negative spaces.
Narratives centered on characters that, by both their own natures and that of the world around them, may never see their lives culminate in some grand, clearly defining moment seem to be Refn’s vehicle of choice. He treaded similar material in PUSHER and BLEEDER, but in FEAR X he uses stillness and characters who, at times, appear almost afraid to open their eyes for fear of what might be in front of them to ratchet tension. The film burns slow and calmly over its short runtime, but is wound so tight that lines of dialog or simple actions – throwaway pieces in any other scenario – harbor powerful abilities to unnerve. Everything and –one in Harry’s world is off-balance, including he himself, all of the time. When something even remotely sinister peaks through the cracks of his existence, it alarms.
Turturro’s performance, which occupies nearly every frame of the film, is a stand-out. He hasn’t been given this sort of showcase in a long time, and between the SECRET WINDOWs and BIG DADDYs, it’s easy to forget how well he can carry a film. The supporting players are all in fine form as well, with Remar, a character actor with over 70 credits to his name, putting in exceptional work.
Refn’s technical approach to the film is aces, with gorgeous photography and sound design accentuating the proceedings. Explosions of crimsons and blacks that, at times, seem to have wandered in from a Brakhage piece, are effectively rendered and used to underscore Harry’s mental states.
The copy I’m reviewing from isn’t actually the Lions Gate disc but Nordisk Film’s Danish release, which streeted well over a year ago. It offers up 25 minutes worth of interviews with the cast and crew (mostly in English) and eight trailers for Refn’s (then current) three films. Refn’s name appears all over the packaging and menus for the film – appropriate for a filmmaker of his stature at home one supposes, though still a little odd and surely lacking on the LGE release.
FEAR X isn’t a film everyone will like. It moves at its own pace with its own ideas about how a story should be told and what it should mean, all of which will quickly alienate some viewers. Those willing to stick with the film might find something special in it, which I certainly did. The undefined terror of its title (which is one of the best in recent years, in my opinion) permeates every frame, creating a sense of unease out of thin air. There’s no good or bad, no real monsters or ghosts in the film, except that, to me at least, there are – and whether or not you see fit to find them will likely go a long way in determining whether or not you enjoy Refn’s film.
