Go

Autofocus

Year: 2002
Director: Paul Schrader
Cast: Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe, Rita Wilson, Maria Bello
A quite brilliantly done biopic with Greg Kinnear showing a nasty side very well instead of usual made-for-comedy grin.

A film with good contrast, with the glitzy, kitschy clothes and interiors at odds with the growing menace and descent into hell for Crane.

After Hogan's Heroes, Crane never came back. Thanks to an increasingly seedy reputation, nobody would touch him. Helped by his friend, sleazy video technician John Carpenter (Dafoe), he amasses a huge collection of home made porno videos and photography.

Going through two marriages and families, Crane is most interesting for believing himself to be normal, while it's the society around him that has the hang-ups.

The third act is made all the more sinister by the low bass tone that backs each scene, building slowly, and by the time of Crane's murder, we feel we've followed a tangible path downward for a desperate man. What he was really looking for, who knows, but what sort of life he led (if true) is well portrayed.

The only downside is that Dafoe tries too hard and clumsily overacts at times.

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