CINEMA: The Lookout

Having made a name for himself as a scriptwriter (Out Of Sight, Get Shorty), Scott Frank now proves he’s no slouch as a director either with this beautifully constructed, intelligently perceived pseudo-noir crime thriller.

Set in a wintry, mid-west farming town it meticulously follows the rise and fall of golden boy Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who is mentally damaged in an horrific car crash (which he himself causes). Now trying to piece his life back together, Chris is frustrated and angered by his frequent memory lapses. While his blind flatmate and mentor Lewis (Jeff Daniels) advocates patience and working on each memory as a story with a beginning, middle and end, Chris falls in with the wrong crowd led by charismatic Gary (Matthew Goode) who suggests a darker and much riskier way for him to recapture his former glory.

Frank sets up the story in a slow burn of character compositions that give the viewer real insight into what is making these people tick. There’s a definite echo of the movie Memento here as Chris rails against his mental incapacity and tries desperately to form a cohesive idea of whom he actually is. It’s pretty clear from the outset where the story is heading but there are more than enough surprises and twists along to way to hold your interest. Gordon-Levitt is particularly good at conveying Chris’ anguish at his own shortcomings (a scene where he tries to chat up a girl is squirmily embarrassing) and there’s great support from Daniels, Goode and Isla Fisher as a reluctant honeytrap.

This is class stuff and bodes well for Scott Frank’s future directorial outings, while by rights Gordon-Levitt should now be fast-tracked into the big time.     Dee Pilgrim