Tribeca Film Festival
A taut and uncharacteristically intelligent crime thriller, this first feature from director Dominique Forma, while unlikely to reap significant commercial exposure in a marketplace saturated with explosives-laden suspensers, is a significant industry calling card. Its simple premise, handled with wit and style in Dan Golka and Amit Mehta's screenplay (from a story by the director), has the focus of a one-act play, only occasionally lapsing into cutesy excess. "Scenes of the Crime" was recently showcased at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Lenny (John Abrahams), who likes to style himself after Steve McQueens's ultracool persona in "Bullitt", is a young mechanic and occasional driver for low-level Los Angeles criminals like Rick (Peter Greene), who enlists him one morning for a quick chauffeuring gig. Lenny soon finds himself in over his head when it turns out the job consists of kidnapping a wealthy and mob-connected businessman, Jimmy (Jeff Bridges), whom Rick intends to kill.
Before he can accomplish the task, though, he's taken out himself, thanks to Jimmy's unflappable if slightly delinquent bodyguard Seth (Noah Wyle). A standoff ensues, with Lenny holding his hostage in his van parked outside a deli while Seth and his associate (rocker Henry Rollins) keep their eyes on him. While Jimmy's partner (Bob Gunton) and Rick's boss (Brian Goodman) engage in negotiations over the situation, the ever persuasive and smooth Jimmy tries to convince Lenny that his best course is to let him go. The tense conversations are periodically interrupted by a series of crises, involving a pair of window washers, a dotty old man R. Lee Ermey) and the owners of a nearby convenience store (Morris Chestnut, Madchen Amick).
The sharp dialogue and intricate plotting, not to mention the incisive if terse characterizations, make for a tense, tightly wound experience, well orchestrated by director Forma. The performances are another plus; Bridges conveys a sharp cunning with just the right hint of underlying menace, and Wyle, in an interesting departure from his sensitive "ER" persona, is convincingly cool and confident as his henchman. Brian Goodman brings real humor to his role as a soft-talking but tough-as-nails hood, and Gunton and Ermey contribute sharp supporting turns. While Chestnut and Amick's roles seem superfluous, they handle their chores in professional fashion, and Abrahams is appealing as the naive but not unintelligent protagonist.
A taut and uncharacteristically intelligent crime thriller, this first feature from director Dominique Forma, while unlikely to reap significant commercial exposure in a marketplace saturated with explosives-laden suspensers, is a significant industry calling card. Its simple premise, handled with wit and style in Dan Golka and Amit Mehta's screenplay (from a story by the director), has the focus of a one-act play, only occasionally lapsing into cutesy excess. "Scenes of the Crime" was recently showcased at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Lenny (John Abrahams), who likes to style himself after Steve McQueens's ultracool persona in "Bullitt", is a young mechanic and occasional driver for low-level Los Angeles criminals like Rick (Peter Greene), who enlists him one morning for a quick chauffeuring gig. Lenny soon finds himself in over his head when it turns out the job consists of kidnapping a wealthy and mob-connected businessman, Jimmy (Jeff Bridges), whom Rick intends to kill.
Before he can accomplish the task, though, he's taken out himself, thanks to Jimmy's unflappable if slightly delinquent bodyguard Seth (Noah Wyle). A standoff ensues, with Lenny holding his hostage in his van parked outside a deli while Seth and his associate (rocker Henry Rollins) keep their eyes on him. While Jimmy's partner (Bob Gunton) and Rick's boss (Brian Goodman) engage in negotiations over the situation, the ever persuasive and smooth Jimmy tries to convince Lenny that his best course is to let him go. The tense conversations are periodically interrupted by a series of crises, involving a pair of window washers, a dotty old man R. Lee Ermey) and the owners of a nearby convenience store (Morris Chestnut, Madchen Amick).
The sharp dialogue and intricate plotting, not to mention the incisive if terse characterizations, make for a tense, tightly wound experience, well orchestrated by director Forma. The performances are another plus; Bridges conveys a sharp cunning with just the right hint of underlying menace, and Wyle, in an interesting departure from his sensitive "ER" persona, is convincingly cool and confident as his henchman. Brian Goodman brings real humor to his role as a soft-talking but tough-as-nails hood, and Gunton and Ermey contribute sharp supporting turns. While Chestnut and Amick's roles seem superfluous, they handle their chores in professional fashion, and Abrahams is appealing as the naive but not unintelligent protagonist.
- 6/27/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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