Review of Blue Caprice (2013) by Cameron J — 30 Jan 2014

Terrorism hits Washington, D.C., and it's scary that it was committed by a traitorous American, with the scariest part being that the terrorist... is black. Forget a blue caprice, they should have called this "Black Guy Problems, White Guy Crazy", because no how matter how much black people get used to shooting things, just how many sniper assassins have been something other than white? ...Man, that's messed up on so many levels, and I apologize, particularly to the victims of the Beltway sniper attacks. Well, they probably should have seen this coming, because it seems like Muhammad Ali is the only black person who didn't go crazy when he went so deep into Muslim that he took the name Muhammad, and even then, that might be because he was releasing stress as a boxer, so if it wasn't Parkinson's disease that got him into retirement and unable to hold a gun, we'd be done for. Wow, this opener is probably too offensive, but hey, it's not like you've heard about this film enough to be interested in reading an article that deals with someone's opinion on it. I'd say that in that case, I should watch my step, should Isaiah Washington see this and actually have his own crazy breakdown, what with all of the Spike Lee films' rubbing off on him, but they're saying so little about this film that I doubt even Washington knows about it, and he's in it. That's a shame, because, morbid jokes aside, this is a worthy story, but man, does its interpretation fall flat, in spite of certain genuinely commendable aspects.

Composed by Arcade Fire's Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld, this often dully quiet and dryly meditative film's score is underused, but when it is utilized, it's pretty effective, with a refreshing bite that is beautiful by its own musical right, as well as fitting as a compliment to this drama's tone. For this, credit is due to director Alexandre Moors, whose meditativeness is generally cold in its near-abstracts sparseness, yet it sometimes utilizes thoughtful style and scoring with a genuinely effective form of subtle intensity. Effective moments are there, helping in bringing the final product to the brink of decency, which, to be fair, was always to be within range, considering the value of this story which is done so much injustice by questionable storytelling. Well, even in concept, this narrative regarding the story behind the horrible Beltway sniper attacks is still too thin in scope to be all that meaty, and yet, this is nevertheless a conceptually intriguing study on men's gradual movement into dark depths that finds itself sometimes brought to life by highlights in storytelling, and frequently brought to life by worthy performances. Due to the thinness in the story concept and, of course, storytelling, acting material is limited, but what material there is goes delivered on pretty effectively by the leads, with Isaiah Washington capturing the bitterness of an angry man pushed to low-down deeds by his being wronged, while Tequan Richmond takes advantage of a more quiet intensity to capture the disturbed depths of a boy brought to a new life in America by a man who will mold him into a traitor of it. The disturbing story of John Muhammad and Lee Malvo has a lot of intrigue on paper that is not given as much justice as it should be given, but Washington and Richmond most reflect an ambition for effectiveness that is explored enough by genuine strengths in storytelling to at least come close to decency. Of course, the point is that decency is not achieved, because no matter how much this film bites in certain places, it falls flat on the whole, not even being able to come up with all that much freshness to what material there is to a do-little narrative.

May be only so much plot, but when it kicks in, it's often too familiar for its own good, as storytelling is bland enough when it's not treading a formula that distances you about as much as, of all things, a lack of familiarity with the story and characters. Immediate development is lacking, the eventual explanation of certain background information feels rather forced, and even gradual characters pays only so much attention to fleshing out character layers which are ultimately very important in this conceptually layered character study. The performers capture the decline in decency within the leads, sure, but writer R.F.I. Porto provides only so much depth on paper, while still finding time to drag things along. Porto plagues storytelling with long meditations upon, not material, or even filler, but just nothing, and such overtly artistic meanderings get to be monotonous and aimless, ironically making it easier to feel out the natural shortcomings of this narrative which is handled with so little focus. Again, this story is worthy, but it's also minimalist, having only so much potential, due to its having only so much dynamicity to its plot to explore, which is hard to deny when the film meanders along what material is offers, and mighty coldly I might add. Porto's script, alone, is rich with questionable artistic over-meditativeness that borders on abstract, and certain stiffens pacing, yet momentum and, for that matter, resonance are truly deadened by the exhaustingly overblown directorial thoughtfulness by Alexandre Moors, who hits upon finding material, but generally plagues the final product with a distancing dullness that makes it even harder to get invested in an undercooked and meandering story, and frustrates with a certain sense of artistic pretense. The film wants so hard to be artistically slick, as well as intense, and by that, I don't so much mean that Moors' direction has a sense of ambition behind it, as much as I mean there's a certain arrogance to Moors' direction, which has its effective moments, and is ultimately not so abrasive that it aggravates to a contemptible degree, but makes it hard to get invested, as well as near-impossible to disregard the other storytelling shortcomings that leave the final product to sputter out as mediocre.

When the rounds are emptied, an excellent score by Sarah Neufeld and Colin Stetson, highlights in directorial storytelling by Alexandre Moors behind a conceptually intriguing story, and strong performances by Isaiah Washington and Tequan Richmond provide glimpses of a decent dramatic thriller, but natural narrative thinness, some plotting conventions, distancing underdevelopment, monotonously unfocused dragging and a generally dull, atmospherically cold and arrogant directorial performance cut "Blue Caprice" into mediocrity as a both overblown and flat artistic meditation upon the ostensibly disturbing tale behind the certainly disturbing Beltway sniper attacks.

2.25/5 - Mediocre.