BULLET ON A WIRE

Chicago filmmaker Jim Sikora brings his independent sensibility to the much loved film noir genre, using a marvellous sense of place and complex characterisations to create a thoughtful, disturbing and provocative film that brings fresh rewards with each viewing.

Starkly photographed in black and white, BULLET ON A WIRE is an ensemble piece whose characters are affected by a single random act of cruelty by its protagonist Raymond. Creepily played by Jeff Strong, the blank-faced, bespectacled Ray is a lonely telephone insurance salesman who visits his sister Norma (Sikora regular Paula Killen) at the clinic where she works, for emotional support after a failed pick-up in a seedy bar.

After an unimpressed Norma tells her brother that she is too busy, a spurned Ray decides to get one over on her, by incorrectly informing the parents of patient Tanya (Lara Phillips) that she is not only pregnant, but HIV positive. When Tanya returns home, she is confronted by her abusive stepfather, who tells her that she's "Dead", and will give birth to "a little fuckin' corpse" - spurring her to shoot the man with a revolver kept in her bedroom.

While most films would steadily lead up to the act of violence to be shown in all its glory, and justify the actions of Tanya by forcing us to adopt her perspective, BULLET gets this out of the way extremely quickly and focuses intriguingly on the repercussions. The film adopts a courageous and alternative structure rather than using emotional manipulation for the purposes of pathos.

Another film to adopt this structure would be Nicholas Roeg's EUREKA, a masterpiece that places its protagonist's lifetime achievement at the beginning and which thus gives a thorough exploration of the state of ennui that follows. What differentiates and sustains Sikora's film is the classic film noir theme that everybody has an angle: that people are willing to exploit the most extreme of situations to get what they want.

Following her crime, Tanya is incarcerated, and her jobless boyfriend Ed (David Yow) is preoccupied with selling the story to a major newspaper, whom he constantly haggles with, exceeding his concern for her. Ray, too, has his own agenda: spurned by sister Norma after discovering his crime, he seeks a "substitute sister" by visiting and befriending Tanya whom he talks to by phone separated by a glass screen. A professional with the phone, given his insurance work and past life as a credit card fraudster, he easily wins her over (despite being socially awkward without his phone charade).

This theme is extended further when Tanya discovers the financial potential of selling her story - "For all we know a major Hollywood producer might be on the line" - and Norma is willing to lie for her brother, even to Norma, to conceal his crime. As such, this is a complex, superbly characterized feature filled with fascinating situations and enhanced by some wonderfully crisp monochrome photography that illuminates the sleazy bars, abandoned buildings and desolate side streets inhabited by these appropriately off kilter personalities.

A perfect compliment to that other telephone harassment masterpiece, Shinya Tsukamoto's SNAKE OF JUNE, this is a likewise outstanding achievement.

Extras

Given the high quality of the film, it is appropriate that Barrel have typically made a great effort in going for the deluxe treatment. The anamorphic widescreen picture and sound is of a high and unobtrusive quality, and the fine layer of grain that covers the picture simply enhances the gritty atmosphere.

Included is an audio commentary participated by Sikora, Strong, Phillips, Killen and Yow, who discuss conditions of production and reminisce about this and that, giving their own interpretations of characters and events. Killen points out the childish qualities of the Raymond character - after Norma confronts Ray on the subject of the call, he turns away and puts his head down - giving the viewer further insight into this complex and fascinating film.

Review by Matthew Sanderson