Friday, October 04, 2013

"BLUE CAPRICE" A DISTURBING DRIVE

By Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com

 

Isaiah Washington (L) and Tequan Richmond play the cold-blooded serial killers.

“Blue Caprice” is the description of the car John Allen Muhammed (Isaiah Washington) and 17-year-old Lee Malvo (Tequan Richmond) prepared and used for the Washington DC-area attacks committed by the Beltway Sniper.


“Blue Caprice,” now playing at the Loft Cinema, 3233 E. speedway Blvd., is also the film precisely directed by first time French director Alexandre Moors, based in New York City, using a very deliberate script by R.F.I.Porto.

Lifting this true-crime narrative to the level of a meditation on the nature of pure evil, Moors and Porto vigorously avoid any hint of melodrama.

Sometimes that pace seems more relentless than it feels inspiring, but after 93-minutes one feels oneself in the presence of truth.

No, we aren’t any closer to understanding what creates pure evil, that’s what makes this film so powerful. Anybody on any street could be the next killer spilling for no reason whatsoever.

Tucson has been so poignantly touched by this random terror. Evidence points to Muhammed and Malvo having claimed one their earliest victims in Tucson, as well, but that incident is not included in the film.

Instead, Moors spends more than half his screen time developing the father and son relationship between these two, first in sunny Antigua, then in rainy Tacoma.

Both males felt isolated from society and success, having no place to turn for relief from their anger. In desperation they discover the joy of firing firearms when they meet a friend of Muhammed with small artillery of hand guns and high powered rifles in his basement.

Malvo also discovers his natural talent for marksmanship as Moors develops Malvo’s need to continue pleasing Muhammed. But even after making Muhammed the burning center of this three-week rampage around the nation’s capitol, a kind of free-floating need for revenge is his only motivation.

If the traumatic case of the Beltway Sniper has always held your fascination, “Blue Caprice” will suit you perfectly.

 

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