For the
sake of not having to write the same intro a million
different ways throughout the rest of time, just know that
this column avoids the overly long and sometimes dull
process of full film reviews and instead opts to break
things down based on what I thought going in, what happened
while I was there and what I learned at the end of it all.
Thanks for reading!
The
Breakdown - The Woman Chaser
The Impression:
Robinson Devor (the director behind the being-shtupped-by-horses
documentary ZOO) made the film The Woman Chaser in
1999. It was released, to little or no fanfare, and then
shelved, only to be resuscitated earlier this year. I can
only imagine that the popularity of Devor’s prior two
features somehow dredged up new interest in this
dust-collector, and dredged up interest isn’t always a good
sign.
The Reality:
The Woman Chaser, based on a novel by Charles
Willeford (the author of Miami Blues), is a
tongue-and-cheek palm noir about a sleazy car salesman
(Patrick Warburton) who decides that a low-budget film is
the only way he can artistically express himself. The film’s
a strange one. Patrick Warburton’s Richard Hudson is barely
likable, a sex-crazed near-lunatic who bangs women at will
with no remorse for the emotional aftermath. The film he
makes, The Man Who Got Away, is an uncommercial piece
of tripe that Hollywood scoffs at, and the smear on his
nascent artistic career drives him mad. Warburton isn’t
everyone’s cup of tea, and in this film I found him
particularly one night. Sure, he personifies the
straight-jawed anti-heroes of noirs past, but there isn’t
much more to him. Richard Hudson feels like an asshole for
no other reason than because Devor wanted him to be. And
that’s the downfall of the film itself - there’s a quirky
slew of characters and story developments, but they seem
there only for the sake of being quirky. Quite blatantly, it
feels like the work of a first time director, and lo and
behold, this is Devor’s first film. It’s an exercise in
beautiful black and white film and the creation of
interesting characters, but there’s no real through line to
draw it all together.
The Lesson:
I want someone, a higher up wearing a business suit, to tell
me just why this film is getting the rehash.
- Noah Sanders
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