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Off-Camera is Off-Guard
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Lee Evans throws off his trademark Norman Wisdom persona, to take on the
role of an ultra-paranoid who videotapes his entire life, and carries it off
well.
Our lead, Sean Veil, played convincingly by Evans, having been accused of murder
in the past, only escaping trial because of irregularities in the proceedings,
has taken to videotaping every second of his life, giving himself an automatic
alibi should the authorities attempt to stitch him up again.
This is a low budget suspense-drama with some innovative cinemagraphic uses of
CCTV and surveillance footage with a superficial air of Pi
about it. The plot is at times confusing but also captivating, a remarkably
different offering to Hollywood glitz. Filmed almost entirely in Crumlin Road
Prison, it is the first entirely indigenous film from Northern Ireland.
The film is a cutting indictment of criminal profilers and the consequences of
their 'professional judgements'. Despite Veil's continual recording of himself,
when the police come looking for him and accuse him of having been involved in
another crime, he finds that his valuable tape evidence has disappeared. And
so we come to a frantic man desperately trying to secure his freedom. One of
the most powerful statements that the film makes is that it is almost impossible
to avoid conviction for a crime when conspired against.
John Simpson ( no relation to the BBC reporter ) delivers an atmospheric
film with enough intrigue, twists and double-takes to keep the audience awake
and captivated. He is helped along by a fine, if unusual, choice of cast playing
some incredibly interesting characters. Evans is fantastic as a shaven, latex
gloved paranoid, playing it absolutely straight, through Ian McNeice who seems
to be an unnatural mass of blubber, to Colin Salmon as the terminally ill
detective who spends most of his time coughing up blood as he seeks to nail
Veil for the murder he is convinced he committed.
There are some plot holes, continuity and in-film time errors, and, as the
closing credits approach, the plot gets just a little bit silly as we
discover who committed the murder of which Veil was accused, and the fate that
is about to befall each member of the cast.
What we get is a pretty rough film, but that is its charm. It has its flaws, but
they are more than counter-balanced by the whole.
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