Film #039 – Auto Focus (2002)
Viewed February 8, 2006
My interest in Auto Focus obviously comes from an interest in Bob Crane. I had been a fan of Hogan’s Heroes when I was a kid, but had kind of forgotten about it over the years. I remember being incensed when TV Guide named it the second worst sit-com of all time for no other reason than political correctness. But that didn’t make me seek the show out or anything.
That all changed a few moths ago when a local Target marked a bunch of TV Series down to about $9. (Why they did this I still don’t know, but I sure took advantage!) One of the sets I got was Hogan’s Heroes season one. I swear, since that time I must have watched every episode a half dozen times (some episodes, many times more). When Auto Focus first came out, I wasn’t interested enough to see it. Now, however, my interest in Crane and Hogan’s Heroes was at a high point. So when I saw an inexpensive copy on sale I finally bit. Honestly, I’m sorry I did.
The problems with Auto Focus begin with the structure of the film. For one thing, there is a voice-over from Greg Kinnear (as the late Crane) that is used throughout the film. But it isn’t always used. There are long stretches that do not feature any voice-over, which makes me think it was a last minute addition to try and bring some cohesion to the project. It doesn’t.
Secondly, Auto Focus has a point of view of Crane (that he was a sleazeball), but no indication of what kind of man he truly was, deep down. Director Paul Schrader and screenwriter Michael Gerbosi give us moments of the “good” Bob Crane and many more of “bad” Bob Crane. But they fail to articulate what leads Crane down the dark path that he follows. They just show it happening. When he has his change of heart near the end, that too lacks a strong sense of exactly why his attitude has changed. It’s not enough to just show something happening. A sense of “why” has to be put forth or I’m better off with a documentary.
The performances are not bad. Willem Dafoe, as Crane co-hort (and possible murderer) John Carpenter (no relation), is a bit too much of a one-note here. His character exudes oiliness from the moment he pops on screen. Still, he’s able to show some facets to the guy and at least make him consistant within the parameters set down by the script. The strongest performance is probably from Rita Wilson as Crane’s first wife, Anne. Her lack of understanding of Crane’s obsessions resonates easily, since it is the position any reasonable person would take. She shows how Crane’s degenerating personal life slowly wears Anne down. She’s quite effective.
Greg Kinnear, unfortunately, is not as effective. I know that Kinnear is capable of better, so I’m inclined to put the blame again on the director for his poor showing. Mostly because all the subtlety was either left out or edited out of the film, Kinnear never gets to really show why people liked Bob Crane so much. While it’s okay for Dafoe’s character to be instantly slimy (given his position within the story), we need to see what it is about Bob Crane that made him stand out from the crowd. We get to see so little of his early life (he’s in Hogan’s Heores before the first half hour is over) that we never get to see what he was like before the superstar lifestyle took over. With so little to work with, Kinnear is unable to show more that one side of Crane: the sleazy one. It’s unfair to Crane, since I suspect it paints an unrealistic picture, and it’s unfair to Kinnear, who never gets to show any range.
The production crew has other things to answer for, as well. The cinematography is helter skelter, the editing is haphazard and sometimes difficult to follow, the design of the film fails to convey the time period and the casting of all but the primary characters is so far off as to be laughable. (I mean, how hard could it be to get people who could look and act like the cast of Hogan’s Heroes?) The entire production seemed to revel in the sleazy, slimy, dirty, grimy world that they decided Bob Crane lived in, yet never let us see a balanced view, as if this is just the way it was, no further explaination necessary.
Ultimately, the experience of watching Auto Focus was the most unpleasant one I have had since I started this project. In fact, it is one of the most unpleasant things I have ever had to watch. It reeked of a griminess that made me feel dirty just for watching it. It made me feel like watching something with more life-affirming values to it. Like Resevoir Dogs.
Note: When I began watching Auto Focus, I noticed that it was released by Sony Pictures Classsics. I thought to myself, “Isn’t it a bit presumtuous to label a picture as ‘Classic’ before it’s even been released?” After watching it, I feel like I should sue for false advertising.