‘Camera Obscura’ engaging thriller

Spielberg’s ‘Papers’ adds Paulson, Whitford

TBy Dennis Harvey

ruth is in the lens of the beholder — or is it? — in “Camera Obscura,” director-co-scenarist Aaron B. Koontz’s promising if imperfect debut feature. This psychological thrillercum-horror film revolves around a photographer who discovers pictures taken with an antique camera seem to reveal deaths that haven’t occurred yet. Then again this may well be delusion on the part of the PTSD-afflicted hero, as he comes to believe he can prevent these tragedies only by claiming the lives of “substitute” victims himself.

Unreliable-narrator storytelling is a tricky thing to pull off in film. “Camera” scores more points for an intriguing premise than for its execution, which grows more muddled conceptually as the horror elements grow more prominent. Still, this is an accomplished effort that holds full attention while you’re watching it, even if it leaves a few too many questions dangling at the end. Opening in theaters this Friday, the movie launches on VOD and Digital HD next week.

After a brief opening sequence teasing a moment of desperation at an isolated warehouse one night, Koontz and Cameron Burns’ script backtracks 11 days to happier times for Jack Zeller (Christopher Denham). Well, not all that happy: A year after he’s returned from a sixmonth stint embedded in a war zone, the professional shutterbug is still shaky and unemployed, having vowed he’ll “never pick up another camera” after witnessing too many horrors on the job. On the plus side, he’s duly seeing a therapist (Carol Sutton) and has a supportive live-in spouse in realtor fiancee Claire (Nadja Bobyleva).

Nonetheless, she’s getting a little impatient with his inactivity, as finances are tight. Ergo she impulsively acquires an 80-year-old camera at an auction, hoping its novelty might prod Jack out of his non-income-producing torpor. It does, briefly. But once he’s had a first batch of rolls developed, he finds they’re not only inexplicably black and white but contain images of things he didn’t see— surely he would have noticed a corpse on a lawn or playground if it’d been there when he took the shot.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark:

Lawyers for reality TV personality Josh Duggar say he faced “unwarranted public scrutiny” after his sisters were revealed to have told police

Disturbingly, it begins to dawn that these photos depict deaths (accidental or otherwise) that are about to happen. A subsequent holdup in a parking garage ends up taking a life other than the one that had been shown, convincing Jack he can prevent these disasters only by finding someone else (hopefully someone “bad”) to suffer their brunt. And as each developed film roll shows none other than his beloved Claire biting the dust, it’s soon open-casting season for unlucky strangers to take her place in various gruesome tableaux.

Attracts

The eventual pileup of bodies and Jack’s proximity to them attracts unwelcome attention from police detectives (Catherine Curtin, Chase Williamson). Meanwhile, he begins fearing the camera may have once belonged to a local serial killer (Andrew Sensening). His anxiety level is ratcheted up yea further by apparent blackouts, not to mention hallucinations, dreams and/or premonitions, all of which make it difficult for him to maintain any firm grasp on reality.

“Camera Obscura” is best in its first half, when Koontz’s assured direction and the strong lead performances create an insinuating atmosphere of suspense that may or may not be supernatural in origin. The later going remains engaging, but as it moves from an emphasis on psychological terror to bloody physical action (most notably in a sequence involving Jeremy King as a most unfortunate hardware store owner), some of the initial intrigue is lost.

The key matter here should be how much Jack’s damaged psyche is warping (or flat-out creating) what he perceives. Yet despite some dislocative editing devices and such, the film seems more haphazard than ingenious in working out that mystery, all the way through a fadeout that simply muddies the waters further. In the end, “Camera” is more attentive to thriller tropes than to exploring slippery sanity, when the latter path would provide more deeply disturbing material.

Nonetheless, “Camera” is definitely a cut above in genre terms, with room for some nicely drawn character writing and acting, particularly in the support

they’d been molested by him.

Duggar’s lawyers made the comment in a complaint in which he’s seeking to join his sisters’ breach-of-privacy lawsuit. figures played by Curtin and Noah Segan (as Jack’s somewhat pathetic longtime pal Walt). There’s a confident rigor to the assembly, most notably in the widescreen lensing by Chris Heinrich, who makes his feature debut as DP here after 15 years as a camera operator and assistant. Steve Moore’s effective score follows current fashion by tipping a hat at times to 1970s and ‘80s horror soundtrack flavors, without sacrificing suspense for in-joke kitsch. Though its setting is vaguely noted in dialogue as “the Midwest,” the film was shot in Louisiana.

Also: LOS ANGELES:

Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Matthew Rhys, Bradley Whitford, Carrie Coon, Jesse Plemons, David Cross, Alison Brie, Bruce Greenwood, Tracy Letts, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Zach Woods have joined the ensemble of Steven Spielberg’s “The Papers,” which already stars Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. The film centers on the Washington Post’s decision to publish the classified Pentagon Papers in 1971.

Formerly known as “The Post,” the movie is a co-production between Amblin Entertainment and Fox. The film has been fast-tracked with the hope of making this year’s awards season race, with production already underway.

The movie will see a limited release on Dec 22 and go wide on Jan 12, 2018.

Amy Pascal’s Pascal Pictures purchased the spec from Liz Hannah last fall, with Pascal on board to produce along with Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger. Rachel O’Connor will executive produce with Star Thrower Entertainment’s Tim and Trevor White, and Adam Somner.

The pic will be co-financed by Fox and Amblin Entertainment. Fox will handle domestic distribution; international will be Amblin, through its output deals with Universal, eOne, Reliance, and others.

The Pentagon Papers made headlines prior to publication when the Post’s editor Ben Bradlee and publisher Kay Graham challenged the federal government over their right to publish them. (RTRS)

They’re suing the city of Springdale and Washington County, Arkansas, and publishers of InTouch Weekly, which first revealed their identities.(AP)

LOS ANGELES:

Rashida Jones will receive the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s actors inspiration award.

The honor, which will be presented at the eighth annual Los Angeles Golf Classic on Monday, recognizes artists who give back to the community by championing philanthropic causes.

Jones’ charity work includes the International Rescue Committee, where she travels around the world as an advocate for the nonprofit that delivers lifesaving care to people fleeing conflict and national disaster. (RTRS)

LOS ANGELES:

Kesha had to learn the Jerry Seinfeld is not a hard way that hugger.

The two ran into each other on the red carpet for the David Lynch Foundation’s National Night of Laughter and Song, cosponsored by Variety, on Monday night.

The singer attempted not once, not twice, but three times to give Seinfeld a hug while he was mid-interview with Tommy McFly, host of 94.7 Fresh FM’s The Tommy Show in Washington DC. (RTRS)