Streaming on Prime Video - Rod Bishop recommends GAZER (Ryan J. Sloan, USA, 2024)

Ariella Mastroianni, Ryan J Sloan

Ryan J. Sloan was working as an electrician when he shot Gazer, his first feature during breaks from his day job. 

It took two-and-a-half-years and was entirely financed by Ryan and the lead actress Ariella Mastroianni. They also share the screenplay credit. 

Described by Indiwire as “A truly independent film in every sense of the word”, this gritty 16mm thriller uses a neurologically challenged Frankie (Mastroianni) as the central character in a crime conspiracy set in the industrial decay of New Jersey.

Frankie suffers from deteriorating memory and time distortions caused by dyschronometria - hours may suddenly go by; recollections from the past are constantly changing or forgotten; perceptions of everyday life are always to be doubted; and nothing in the world is stable.

Frankie’s coping mechanism is an old Sony Walkman playing 30-minute tapes to constantly remind her to focus on, and grapple with, her fracturing reality.

Her husband has apparently suicided and her mother-in-law has custody of her young daughter. Frankie loses her job pumping petrol as she’s constantly listening to her tapes: “What do you see? Focus!”. And a new acquaintance Paige (Renee Gagner), who is escaping a domestically violent brother, has offered to pay Frankie $3000 to collect car keys from her old flat. 

But like Frankie’s constantly breaking reality, all with Paige is not as it seems. Frankie finds herself falling into a dangerous, paranoid trap; following and being followed; and realizing those around her are not who they seem.

The audience becomes as disturbed as Frankie. We are not just observers of her plight, but participants in her disarrayed world. Like her, as events unfold in this murder thriller, we are searching to understand her broken reality.

Dyschronometria is related to dementia and it’s the greatest strength of Gazer, alternating us through inabilities to remember; days that suddenly turn into night; lurching memories that can’t be trusted; and the distortions and uncertainties of understanding life.

Director Ryan J. Sloan has made an exemplary first feature here, greatly aided by Ariella Mastroianni’s mesmerizing and wholly convincing performance as Frankie. She literally holds the film together. And this film is always - and quite deliberately - threatening to fall apart.

Gazer often looks and feels like a 1980s psychological thriller, reminiscent of Christopher Nolan’s Following, with touches of Cronenberg’s body horror, and Lynch and De Palma paranoias.

Premiering last year in Director’s Fortnight at Cannes, it seems odd it was bypassed for selection in Un Certain Regard, the Cannes showcase for best first and second features. 

A Diary (6) - The Road to Bologna and IL CINEMA RITROVATO - Artefacts and queues.

Avocado, Black Rice, Smoked salmon and 
sun-dried tomatoes from Gamberini

Il Cinema Ritrovato has proved surprisingly easy to negotiate though I have to confess having paid the premium on the ticket to become a Sostenitore really helps. As late as last night when I changed my mind about an afternoon movie my favourite seat on the aisle in the crossover row was still available, notwithstanding a likely full house, it being reserved for the premium ticket holders and the Artistic Committee. Occasionally an occupant has to be asked to vacate the seat but no dramas ensue...at least yet....

Some films brought back seen to be more like artefacts or signposts to distant history than works of art. The American film Bushman (David Schickele), was made between 1968 and 1971, a problem caused by the lead actor being summarily and suddenly deported back to Nigeria, being its biggest impediment. After forty minutes or so of narrative featuring a black university teacher and his white and black girl friends, the film stops and we move to another story, that of what happened and how it happened to the actor. 

Niki de Saint Phalle's Un reve plus long que la nuit/A Dream Longer than Night is another such, a film by a woman who devoted most of her life to monumental sculpture but between 1973 and 1976 made two films. Dream is the second of them. It's a delirious Alice in Wonderland meets Jean Cocteau tale ending in battle scenes between actors equipped with giant paper mache exploding penises (above). The audience didn't find it funny and one of the best-known international film critics who sat next to me snoozed and occasionally snored throughout.

Finally an unseen Rouben Mamoulian gave you an insight into his better work, some of his least appealing films occupying other slots. Rings on Her Fingers (USA, 1942) with Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney may not be as good as The Lady Eve  but it's a very funny story about social climbing and true  love which to my mind featured more kisses (like above almost) between its two principals than I think I've ever seen before in a Hollywood movie, even in Hitchcock's pictures.

Finally another quick update. Cinema Reborn Organising Committee Member Simon Taaffe's progress report nominates as his best so far  IL GRIDO (Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy, 1957), FACE TO FACE (Roviros Manthoulis, Greece, 1967), THE SUSPECT (Robert Siodmak, USA, 1945) and THE PLOT AGAINST HARRY (Michael Roemer, USA, 1971).

...and after another unknown Michael Powell at 6.45 pm it will be off to Da Lucia once more...a creature of habit...Bologna's RK San