Cast: Ewan McGregor, Ashley Judd, Jason Priestly, k. d. lang, Patrick Bergin
Directed by Stephan Elliott
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Ashley Judd, Jason Priestly, k. d. lang, Patrick Bergin
Directed by Stephan Elliott
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER is
the perfect example of why it's a disaster to try to make an art film
out of a standard thriller. Stephan Elliott, acclaimed for his work
on THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA,
QUEEN OF THE DESERT, commits directorial blunder after
blunder in making what could have been fascinating and turning it
into unengagingly odd. Quality actors, a seemingly interesting
storyline, and themes that are fresh for a thriller of this genre
are shamefully wasted in yet another director who feels he's an
artist first and an entertainer second.
The plot deal with a private investigator tails a female serial killer and becomes close to her despite never meeting before due to tragic relationships with family in their respective pasts.
There isn't
much to recommend here other than in seeing all of the missed
opportunities fall flat in scene after scene. If there's anything
worse than seeing a bad movie, it's seeing a good movie made badly
and sadly EYE OF THE BEHOLDER could have been much
better in the hands of someone more qualified in making smart
thrillers than quirky art comedies. Stephan Elliott is a fine
director, but he's in territory he should never have been in, and it
shows. There's a reason Hitchcock didn't direct Westerns, John Ford
didn't direct musicals and Capra didn't direct horror. Hopefully next
time Elliott sticks with his quirky farces and stays out of
mainstream actioners, so we won't endure more of these messes.
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