Auto Focus

Joe Queenan once ventured that it's possible to evaluate the quality levels of some films even without having seeing them. How? The satirist claimed that if the cast credits include the name 'Greg Kinnear' then it's apparent that the producers had no interest in making anything which even resembles a work of art. Never one to mince his words, Queenan may be forced to re-evaluate his opinion after seeing Kinnear's performance in Paul Schrader's Auto Focus. A revelation in the role, Kinnear plays all American TV star Bob Crane, a man whose public image is a deeply wholesome one. Thanks to his title role in mainstream sit-com Hogan's Heroes, Crane becomes a national institution. However, he soon finds that fame and success is an aphrodisiac and he's intent on exploiting it to the maximum. A technical worker on the show, John Carpenter (a delicious sleazy Willem Dafoe) alerts Crane to the fact that he can help record his conquests for posterity and the two embark on a sexual odyssey which has devastating ramifications.

As a writer and director, Schrader has always been preoccupied with the darkness lying just beneath the surface of the American dream and in the character of Bob Crane he seems to have the perfect subject matter. And while his narrative lacks some depth and pace - the descent into sexual oblivion isn't etched out quite as well as it should have been and feels rushed - Schrader is an intensely stylish filmmaker and he coaxes a superb performance out of the reticent Kinnear. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but Auto Focus is punchy twisted stuff.