In one of the more intriguing,
disturbing and genuinely thought provoking new films of the year, British
director Simon Rumley’s Austin, Texas situated Red White & Blue (Friday
at the Roxie) – an emotionally damaged, feckless young woman, Erica (Amanda
Plummer), ridicules a trick’s suggestion that they use a condom for their motel
room one-off. “Condoms are for homos.” While not a “Macguffin” in the Hitchcock
sense, the notion of HIV infection tied to sexual promiscuity is definitely a
take away in this cleverly constructed “gearshift” movie.
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While not Psycho in stature,
Red White & Blue does share the grandfather of all modern character
driven horror film’s switcheroo formats whereby we prepare ourselves for
identifying with a morally dodgy protagonist only to have the ground cut out
from under her and us. It’s to Rumley’s credit that he switches twice: from the
quasi-sympathetic Erica to the brash and impetuous young musician Franki (Marc
Senter) to the darkly enigmatic loner Nate (Noah Taylor).
Rumley cradles the first part of
the film in a Larry Clark amoral, suburban American landscape whose grownups
have never acquired a trustworthy moral compass. Through the first hour we are
teased into expecting a certain kind of story only to find ourselves whipsawed
into another kind: it’s as if you are invited to play “Whack-a-Mole,” only to
discover that the little critter’s vanished before you can strike.
The final Nate driven part of the
story is a more traditionally satisfying blood drenched, revenge-fueled arc
that delivers the goods that horror fans have come to expect. Except it’s not
that simple -- before we leave Nate burning a once precious photo in the desert
we sense that we’ve gotten involved with a critter as elusive and scary as one
of De Niro’s great loose cannon “sickos.”
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A generation back the British
born/Australian raised Noah Taylor lassoed the hearts of wimpy kid lovers with
the Danny Embling stories: The Year My Voice Broke and Flirting. Destined
to be a character actor even in his own star vehicles – Taylor in Flirting was
obliged to share billing with Thandie Newton, Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts –
the adult Taylor has evolved into a poor man’s John Hurt (without the Quentin
Crisp chapter) with an array of scintillating, if below the radar eccentrics
from a feral but perplexingly human young Hitler in Max to the grumpy
den mother roadie in Cameron Crowe’s rock classic Almost Famous.
Even if character driven horror is
not your cup of tea, catch Red White & Blue for an unparalleled peek
at one of our era’s consummate quick change artists, who like the younger
Eastwood can prick your conscience without wallowing in any moral or narrative
comfort zone.