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Look
(2007)
 
Look begins with the complete objectification
of women and never eases up from there, culminating in a truly
heartless ending which left me feeling near-genuine hatred
for the filmmakers. While I get the idea behind the film, and almost respect
its making, Look drives too hard at the inseparability
of voyeurism and sexuality. It's not the kind of sex most
audiences will enjoy though, as there's a
disturbing violence prevalent throughout the film which will
inspire more disgust and guilt in any conscionable viewer
than it will titillation.
The film claims to be captured entirely on hidden surveillance
cameras, and the overwhelming concept of the lack of privacy
in the modern world is perhaps the only admirable quality of
the film, even if it becomes gimmicky by the end of the first
act. I was disappointed to find that the production actually
used high end digital camcorders and degraded the image, as the
experimentalist in me wanted to see how real security cameras would look.
It's difficult at times to suspend disbelief about the convenient
placement of the lenses to the action (not to mention the infidelity
of the sound throughout), and high-angle, low-res shots will
quickly grate on anyone who expects some variation in the visuals
of the movie.
Style aside, the content alone is enough to make anyone nearly sick. Whether
it's the unrealistic department store dressing room stripping, dancing and spanking
of one another two sexy high school students (Spencer Redford & Heather Hogan)
perform in the film's opening segment, the kidnapping of an ATM customer, or
the abduction of a little girl from a mall food court, Look is packed
full of violence against women. Sure, there've been other films wherein the relationship
between voyeurism, sex, and violence was explored (Peeping Tom and Psycho are
perhaps the most famous), but writer/director Adam Rifkin seems to have
completely forgotten to consider the implications of the film's subject matter.
I'm quite certain that most middle-aged men have some fantasies about sexually
adventurous teen hard bodies coming on to them, but to have a teacher (Jamie
McShane) follow through with this and then demonize the girl involved makes a
very powerful statement about blaming the victim of sexual crimes, whether one
wants to or not. Sadly, the humorous tone Rifkin douses the film with does nothing
to help him appear more responsible.
Furthermore, I was annoyed to no end with the band-wagon-jumping the film commits
on a purely narrative level. It's becoming more and more fashionable to make
movies involving seemingly unrelated stories which overlap in unseen and supposedly
powerful ways at the film's conclusion. I know some people love that. I, on the
other hand, don't buy it. Especially when the connections are that all the men
in the movie think the same two girls are hot, kidnap little kids, or harass
their female subordinates at work, and all the women are merely inadequate variations
on a sex-symbol who doesn't know she's being watched. Oh, how vulnerable everyone
is!
This is the perfect example of an ambitious filmmaker taking
a decent idea and running with it both too far and in the wrong
direction. Without considering the social or moral implications
of his movie, or even the entertainment value of it,
we can see that the result is winding up with a questionable
piece of pretentious mental masturbation. We get that we're being
watched everywhere we go. We also get that you're an archetypal
misogynist, Mr. Rifkin. Look may
present you with a few interesting things to see, but it's hardly
a movie you'll be able to stand to actually watch.
-Mark
Moreland
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All contents ©
2004-2009 Thoughtsonfilm.com |
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Director:
Adam
Rifkin
Writer: Adam
Rifkin
Starring: Rhys
Coiro, Hayes MacArthur, Giuseppe Andrews, Spencer Redford, Jennifer
Fontaine, Heather Hogan, Jamie McShane, Sebastian Feldman
Distributor: Liberated
Artists
Runtime: 102
min
Rating: R
Release Date: December
14, 2007
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