![]() | This article consists almost entirely of a plot summary .(May 2018) |
Anamorph | |
---|---|
![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Henry S. Miller |
Written by | Henry S. Miller Tom Phelan |
Produced by | Marissa Mazzola-McMahon |
Starring | Willem Dafoe Scott Speedman Peter Stormare Clea DuVall James Rebhorn Mick Foley |
Cinematography | Fred Murphy |
Edited by | Geraud Brisson |
Music by | Reinhold Heil Johnny Klimek |
Distributed by | IFC Films |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 103 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Anamorph is a 2007 independent psychological thriller film directed by Henry S. Miller and starring Willem Dafoe. Dafoe plays a seasoned detective named Stan Aubray, who notices that a case he has been assigned to bears a striking similarity to a previous case of his. The film is based on the concept of anamorphosis, a painting technique that manipulates the laws of perspective to create two competing images on a single canvas.
Dafoe turned down the role initially but reconsidered after a chance meeting with producer Marissa McMahon on a flight from Los Angeles. The film also has cameo appearances by Mick Foley and Debbie Harry.
The film had its world premiere at the 2007 Milwaukee International Film Festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where star Willem Dafoe started out in theater. [1] It was also shown at the Williamstown Film Festival in November the same year. [2] The film opened in New York City on April 18, 2008 [3] and in Los Angeles on May 2, 2008. [4]
Stan Aubray (Willem Dafoe), is a seasoned, semi-retired detective with significant obsessive-compulsive disorder and struggling with alcoholism. Resigned to a teaching position for forensic psychology, he is called back to active duty following the elaborately staged murder of a man in a high-rise apartment building. The victim is suspended and surrounded by photography lights, the room sealed off except for a pinhole, creating a projected camera obscura effect on the apartment wall. This crime scene bears many similarities to the Uncle Eddie murders, a series of similarly "artistic" killings, for which Stan was promoted following the prime suspect's death in an attempted arrest. Stan relates some of his difficulties to Sandy, a recovering alcoholic and former prostitute who is a friend of Stan and Crystal, the final victim of Uncle Eddie, and Stan's apparent former lover. Sandy invites Stan on a hiking trip with a group of friends, which Stan declines.
A second killing quickly follows the first, in which the butchered corpse's limbs are hung independently from wires, creating the image of a raven when viewed from the proper angle. Stan begins drinking heavily, even filling his coffee cup with vodka in the middle of work. He also begins to have friction with Detective Carl (Scott Speedman), a recently promoted detective who is resentful of Stan's aloof attitude. Following this, Stan returns home to find his apartment has been broken into, the thief stealing an antique Victorian chair and replacing it with a taping of his inquiry following Crystal and Uncle Eddie's deaths. Stan also notices a painting identical to the camera obscura projection in an antiques store, also painted with identical pigments to the Uncle Eddie killings.
Stan visits Detective Jorge "George" Ruiz, his former partner until the Uncle Eddie murders. After reminiscing briefly, Stan doesn't inform Ruiz of the copycat killings, and departs. Partway home he realizes he is being followed, and chases his stalker, who escapes. The following morning, Stan is informed Ruiz has been found murdered, his abdomen opened and his innards removed, forming an inkwell of blood. The scene includes a pantograph machine and a half-finished canvas. Using his former partner's blood, Stan paints the other half of the painting, forming the image of a screaming face. The other officers begin to suspect Stan. Attempting to replace his chair, Stan consults with Blair Collet, an antiques dealer who finds antique chairs for Stan, and likens Stan to the killer's patron, as he bought the painting from the antiques store, or his obsession, similar to Francis Bacon's obsession with Pope Innocent. Blair then takes Stan to an art gallery which is filled with model depictions of the recent murders, including Stan's stolen chair. The curator informs them that the artist is Gerri Harden. Searching the art pieces, Stan finds a clay model of the raven, with hundreds of fingerprints still present on the clay. This leads them to a warehouse with a dummy model wearing a Gerri Harden name badge, and several paintings, when Stan realizes the name is an anagram from 'a red herring'. During this time, he receives a photograph of Sandy and her friends from the hiking trip.
The next day, Stan receives a call from the killer, who repeatedly tells him "a poison harms" (An anagram for anamorphosis, the artistic technique he is using), and tells Stan to come see his next show, which is another empty warehouse containing diagrams of the final Uncle Eddie murders, including Crystal's, which, when viewed from high above, had the appearance of a body on a rock by a beach shore. Stan, at home, receives a call from Sandy with another invitation, when he realizes that the man who had been stalking him is in the picture. He fails to reach Sandy, and tries her AA group, when he learns her sponsor, the man in the picture, drove her away. Sandy is receiving a tattoo of angel's wings, provided by the killer. She blithely remarks that he might be too high to finish, and comments that she's never seen him high, and he responds that he'd never put that poison in his veins. Sandy begins to struggle, first for a chance to look at the tattoo, and then for a break, and the killer slits her throat. Stan appears at the studio, without having called in for backup. He sees Sandy slumped over as the killer walks past her. Stan follows the killer, wounding him in the shoulder before being stabbed. The killer drags him to the podium and the chair that they'd found the dummy in and props Stan in place. Stan, noticing the tattoo with an eye stenciled beneath it, places his head on Sandy's back, revealing that, when viewed in conjunction with the warehouse floor, spells out the word 'DEAD', a hallmark of the Uncle Eddie murders.
During this, Detective Carl, at his desk, notices a reflection in the first murder photo off his coffee cup, of the raven in the second murder. Searching the raven, he finds the face from the third killing, and in the third killing painting, finds an image of the studio they'd searched. The killer shoots Stan, just before Carl appears and guns down the killer. Stan, struggling for breath, leans back, and dies.
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2018) |
The film received negative to mixed reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported a 27% approval rating based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 4.60/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Thin on plot but heavy on academic references, Anamorph proves more derivative than terrifying." [5] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 43 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [6]
William James "Willem" Dafoe is an American actor. Known for his diverse roles in film, he is the recipient of various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor as well as nominations for four Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and four Golden Globe Awards. He has frequently collaborated with filmmakers Paul Schrader, Abel Ferrara, Lars von Trier, Julian Schnabel, Wes Anderson, and Robert Eggers.
Francis Dolarhyde is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Thomas Harris' 1981 novel Red Dragon, as well as its film adaptations, Manhunter and Red Dragon.
Abel Ferrara is an American filmmaker, known for the provocative and often controversial content in his movies and his use and redefinition of neo-noir imagery. A long-time independent filmmaker, some of his best known movies include the New York-set, gritty crime thrillers The Driller Killer (1979), Ms .45 (1981), King of New York (1990), Bad Lieutenant (1992) and The Funeral (1996), chronicling violent crime in urban settings with spiritual overtones.
Striking Distance is a 1993 American mystery action thriller film starring Bruce Willis as Pittsburgh Police homicide detective Thomas Hardy. The film co-stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Farina, and Tom Sizemore. It was directed by Rowdy Herrington and written by Herrington and Marty Kaplan. The film was shot on location throughout Pittsburgh; its early title was Three Rivers.
Robert Scott Speedman is a Canadian actor. He is known for portraying Ben Covington in the coming-of-age drama television series Felicity, Lycan–Vampire hybrid Michael Corvin in the gothic horror–action Underworld films, and Barry "Baz" Blackwell in the TNT crime drama series Animal Kingdom. His other film work includes Duets, Dark Blue, XXX: State of the Union, The Strangers, Barney's Version, The Vow, and Crimes of the Future. In 2021, he returned to Grey's Anatomy as a main character following a guest role in season 14 as Dr. Nick Marsh.
Off Limits is a 1988 action-thriller film set during the Vietnam War starring Willem Dafoe and Gregory Hines and directed by Christopher Crowe. The term "off limits" referred to the area where the original crime took place, an area of Saigon off limits to military personnel. The name of the film was changed to Saigon or Saigon: Off Limits when it was released throughout the rest of the world.
The Reckoning, also known as Morality Play, is a 2004 British-Spanish murder mystery drama film directed by Paul McGuigan and starring Paul Bettany, Willem Dafoe, Tom Hardy, Gina McKee, Brian Cox and Vincent Cassel. It was written by Mark Mills and based on the 1995 novel Morality Play by Barry Unsworth. Filming was done on location in Spain, Wales, and England.
Michael Gunther is a producer, director and writer.
Ripper is a 2001 slasher film, directed by John Eyres, and starring A. J. Cook and Bruce Payne. It was written and produced by John A. Curtis and Evan Tylor and by production companies Prophecy Entertainment and Studio Eight Productions.
Body Parts is a 1991 American sci-fi body horror film directed by Eric Red and starring Jeff Fahey, Kim Delaney, Brad Dourif, Zakes Mokae, and Lindsay Duncan. It was produced by Frank Mancuso Jr., from a screenplay by Red and Norman Snider, who dramatized a story that Patricia Herskovic and Joyce Taylor had based on the horror novel Choice Cuts by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac. The film follows a psychologist who undergoes an experimental arm transplant surgery and begins having visions of murders.
Sleepless is a 2001 Italian giallo film directed by Dario Argento. The film stars Max von Sydow and Stefano Dionisi and marks Argento's return to the giallo subgenre. The film was another box office success when it opened in Italy, taking in over 5,019,733,505 lira by the end of its theatrical run.
Control is a 2004 American direct-to-video film directed by Tim Hunter and starring Ray Liotta, Willem Dafoe and Michelle Rodriguez. It was produced by a United States production company and filmed in Bulgaria. Originally given a proposed theatrical release in the United States by Lionsgate, the film was instead shelved until it was eventually given a release on home video by Millennium Entertainment.
Impulse is a 1990 American neo-noir film directed by Sondra Locke, and starring Theresa Russell, Jeff Fahey, and George Dzundza. It follows a female police officer who works as an undercover prostitute in Los Angeles, who unwittingly finds herself at the center of a murder investigation. The film also features a power ballad by singer Kim Carnes called "Everybody Needs Someone".
The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day is a 2009 American vigilante action thriller film written and directed by Troy Duffy, based on a story by Duffy and his brother Taylor. A sequel to The Boondock Saints (1999), the film stars Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, Clifton Collins Jr., Julie Benz, Peter Fonda, and Billy Connolly. Set eight years after the events of the first film, it follows Irish fraternal twin brothers Connor and Murphy MacManus living a quiet life in Ireland with their father Noah, formerly known as "Il Duce" (Connolly). However, when an assassin frames the twins for the murder of a Catholic priest, they return to Boston and join forces with Mexican underground fighter Romeo and FBI Special Agent Eunice Bloom (Benz), a former protégée of Paul Smecker.
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done is a 2009 crime drama film directed by Werner Herzog, and written by Herzog and Herbert Golder. The film stars Michael Shannon as Brad McCullam, a mentally unstable man who kills his own mother after becoming obsessed with a play he is starring in. The film follows a hostage situation resulting from the murder, while also showing the events of McCullam's life leading up to the murder in flashback, with Willem Dafoe appearing as the lead detective, and Chloë Sevigny as McCullam's fiancée.
The Karate Killers is a 1967 American spy film and feature-length film version of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'s third season two-part episode "The Five Daughters Affair". The episodes were originally broadcast in the United States on March 31, 1967, and April 7, 1967, on NBC. It, as does the television series, stars Robert Vaughn and David McCallum. It is the sixth such feature film that used as its basis a reedited version of one or more episodes from the series. Joan Crawford, Telly Savalas, Herbert Lom, Diane McBain, Jill Ireland, and Kim Darby are among those in the cast. The film was directed by Barry Shear and written by Norman Hudis with the story by Boris Ingster.
"Ogi Jun" is the seventeenth episode of the American television drama series The Killing, and the fourth of its second season, which aired on April 15, 2012. The episode is written by Jeremy Doner and is directed by Phil Abraham. In the episode, the detectives learn the identity of the bearer of the Ogi Jun manga tattoo; Jamie Wright and Darren Richmond discuss the future of the campaign; and Stan Larsen learns that he is not free of his mob past.
"Ghosts of the Past" is the eighteenth episode of the American television drama series The Killing, and the fifth of its second season, which aired on April 22, 2012. The episode is written by Wendy Riss and is directed by Ed Bianchi. In the episode, Detectives Linden and Holder obtain a voicemail left by Rosie Larsen when she was alive; Mitch Larsen talks with a woman the same age as Rosie; and Darren Richmond learns who may have been behind his previous arrest.
Death Note is a 2017 American supernatural crime thriller film directed by Adam Wingard from a screenplay by Charles Parlapanides, Vlas Parlapanides, and Jeremy Slater, loosely based on the manga of the same name by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. The film stars Nat Wolff, LaKeith Stanfield, Margaret Qualley, Shea Whigham, Paul Nakauchi, Jason Liles, and Willem Dafoe. The plot follows an American high school student named Light Turner who finds a mysterious supernatural notebook known as the Death Note, which can kill anyone whose name is written in its pages, using it to murder criminals under the alias of Kira, while a secretive detective only known as L seeks to find him.
At Eternity's Gate is a 2018 biographical drama film about the final years of painter Vincent van Gogh's life. The film dramatizes the controversial theory put forward by van Gogh biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, in which they speculate that van Gogh's death was caused by manslaughter rather than suicide.