
Frankie played by Ariella Mastroianni is such a character. A young single mother only trying to make ends meet, she has just been fired from her job at a gas station and lost all hope. She begins looking for any type of work and quickly realizes how difficult it actually is. There are many people in this world trying to provide for themselves, but Frankie who is dealing with a degenerative neurological condition called dyschronometria perpetually experiences an odd punctuality dislocation due to her inability to keep track of time. In other words, the time itself puts a spin on her life. As the gritty film noir femme that she is, Frankie tapes her thoughts onto an audio cassette, “bout the scattered timelines of her life, one of her tapes states.
This is one of the points in the film to watch out for it is a weird low-budget mystery, where the former electrician-turned-director, Ryan J. Sloan takes the opportunity on a slew of topics regarding films like Memento and Videodrome. Like in the best traditions of film, the main character is offered a solution to his predicament, which appears to be too spectacular to be realistic. Frankie gets paid three thousand dollars to drive a car from one point to another. That’s pretty simple, In regards to such premises, it is hardly unexpected that such naïve propositions quickly turn out to be quite the opposite, and almost worthless at that of course, presuming that the hapless sucker gets paid at all. And so it proves here.
It is also typical of the genre that a lead character is bearing a rather heavy emotional weight while undertaking the rest of the tasks at hand in this case a trauma associated with a loss by suicide support group that she accompanies, where families of suicidals come and talk about their experiences. They usually say, or in a more dramatic tone The person I knew wouldn’t do that; They were living this whole other life, and I never really knew him at all. It is remarkable how masterfully these plaintive reasons combine with the plot of the Noir a guy or a girl who is dragged into a whirlwind of events and who sobs about it at the end.
Though it’s regrettable that the film doesn’t have the gripping action pacing of the A-list detective movies, it is nevertheless a pleasure to be in the company of Frankie owing to a rather well-measured act by Mastroianni. Off-screen, she also co-wrote the project and she is not one of those would-be actresses who simply insert themselves into self-structured verticals. She was made for the part, She bears one of those fascinating faces that has the graceful contour of her head, the cropped hairstyle, high cheekbones, and a soft but firm jaw edged with large dark eyes, which altogether portrays a character who is both tough and vulnerable. The historical screen figure who she resembles most is Renee Jeanne Falconetti as the martyr and Saint Joan of Arc one could see in Frankie a contemporary New Jersey reincarnation of the Saint.
Layers of quiet, bass thumping under sorrowful, scandalous brass add class to the proceedings, but one should not be mistaken this is not just another low-budget movie that hopes to get by on a cool score. Consider Gazer and get squeamish as it is an exceptionally well-put-together film even if it was self-financed. At least it was shot in 6mm: it enhances the drama by drawing on the idea of cheap, atmospheric crime films and their promise of grit and violence. But alas, it is still a regret that one of the other hallmarks of the genre, the sexual tension and seduction becomes a bit of an afterthought in Gazer. First off it is not about that, it is about Frankie, and there is an entire performance here dedicated to examining the woman not her love interests.
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