AN IMPERFECT MURDER had a lot going for it: A good basic story idea, competent actors, good writing, and good production values. Even the disjointed approach to editing and storytelling served to enhance and reflect the theme of a disintegrating mind wracked with uncertainty, anxiety, and guilt.
The problems are that the film is too short and too unfinished. The 72-minute running time is simply not adequate to develop fully any element of the film and, as a result, the entire effort fails to achieve what I believe was a lofty goal.
Excellent performances by Sienna Miller as a starlet in trouble and Charles Grodin as her grandfather succumbing to the ravages of Alzheimer's disease are a bright spot. Alec Baldwin is a throw away as a detective who conducts one cursory interview and who functions as little more than a device to move the plot along, and at that a poor one. Five minutes worth of questioning his suspect and, one day later, he returns with massive backup, presumably to effect an arrest? This brother of a homicide detective is calling BS. It doesn't work that way. It never works that way.
Had the filmmakers extended the action by an additional 20 to 30 minutes, they could have tied up some loose ends more neatly and provided the viewer with, for one, a more satisfying ending that follows from something actually presented in the film. It's always good when filmmakers show you more than they tell. The problem is, inBAN IMPERFECT MURDER, they show you a lot without telling you anything.
Overall, it's watchable and oddly interesting, but its flaws overwhelm what could have been a good film had there been more attention to detail and a more fleshed out script.
Recommendation: Watch but watch informed.
The problems are that the film is too short and too unfinished. The 72-minute running time is simply not adequate to develop fully any element of the film and, as a result, the entire effort fails to achieve what I believe was a lofty goal.
Excellent performances by Sienna Miller as a starlet in trouble and Charles Grodin as her grandfather succumbing to the ravages of Alzheimer's disease are a bright spot. Alec Baldwin is a throw away as a detective who conducts one cursory interview and who functions as little more than a device to move the plot along, and at that a poor one. Five minutes worth of questioning his suspect and, one day later, he returns with massive backup, presumably to effect an arrest? This brother of a homicide detective is calling BS. It doesn't work that way. It never works that way.
Had the filmmakers extended the action by an additional 20 to 30 minutes, they could have tied up some loose ends more neatly and provided the viewer with, for one, a more satisfying ending that follows from something actually presented in the film. It's always good when filmmakers show you more than they tell. The problem is, inBAN IMPERFECT MURDER, they show you a lot without telling you anything.
Overall, it's watchable and oddly interesting, but its flaws overwhelm what could have been a good film had there been more attention to detail and a more fleshed out script.
Recommendation: Watch but watch informed.