TAPE

2001

This isn't a film by Neil LaBute ("In The Company of Men," "Bash," etc.) but it could have been. If you enjoy (I'm not sure that that's the right word in this context) LaBute's work, then you'll probably love this film, as I did. The screenplay by Stephen Belber (from his own play,) is the best screenplay since "Memento," and the director Richard Linklater redeems himself with this disturbing movie, after directing the dreadful "Waking Life." Like LaBute, Linklater places his characters in a confined setting (a hotel room,) and when we first meet them. they appear to be relatively normal. But then, they proceed to strip away layers, showing more and more of themselves, until unmentionable deeds are exposed and what appeared to be normal becomes sick, pathetic, and often monstrous. The men are usually misogynists, but in the case of "Tape" they hate themselves, and each other....and they're painfully unaware of this simple little fact. In a three-character one-room movie, each actor carries a lot of responsibility. The three actors in this case are magnificent. You can tell that Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Robert Sean Leonard are stage-trained. Linklater's directing is brilliant; it's amazing how many views of a single room he can come up with. Not a comfortable film, by any means, but one that is edgy, thought provoking, and will give you enough topics for discussion to last you for a long while!

5 Stars

NJB