DETOUR
US, 2016, 97 minutes, Colour.
Tye Sheridan, Emory Cowan, Bel Powley, Stephen Moyer, John Lynch, Jared Abrahamson, Gbenga Akinnagbe.
Directed by Christopher Smith.
The 1945 film noir classic, Detour, has become something of a cult film. The title and the insertion of a clip from the earlier film is a homage here.
The film is intriguing because of its structure. It tells a narrative about a college student for law, Harper (Tye Sheridan) who is angry with his stepfather because of a car accident and his mother in coma. Drinking in a bar, he encounters a tough young man, Johnny, (Emory Cowan) and his girlfriend, put upon, Cherry (Bel Powley). In something of a parallel to the plot of Strangers on a Train, Johnny assumes that Harper is hiring for him for a hit on his stepfather. In the morning, Harper’s is sober and regrets his talk with Johnny.
Harper is shown going inside his house and at the same time outside, making a choice. The choice is that he goes with Johnny and Cherry, intending the hit, squabbling with both of them, encountering a policeman, turning the tables on him. Johnny is a drug dealer and owes some money to stand over dealer, Frank (Irish actor John Lynch in a different kind of role).
The second half of the film shows what happens inside the house – and, is a drama that take place before Johnny turns up, the confrontation between Harper and his stepfather, accusing him of an affair, not being present for his mother. He kills him, puts the body in the boot of the car.
Which means a moral dilemma at the end, the fate of Johnny and Cherry as well. And the audience realises that the stepfather did love his wife and that Harper listening to a suspicious phone call which was in fact to his wife.
The film was made in South Africa, a British production, directed by Christopher Smith who also made Get Santa, Black Death, Severance, Creep.
1. The title? A homage to the 1945 film? The clip in this film?
2. California settings, the town, homes, bars, the open road? The musical score?
3. Harper’s story, the structure of the film? The direction of the film, imagination and memory, the reversal of hearts in time sequence?
4. Harper, studying the law, the clients, defence lawyer, his ambitions?
5. The relationship with his mother, the crash, his mother in a coma? His antagonism towards his stepfather? Vincent being away, business in Las Vegas? Harper suspicious of his stepfather having an affair? Vincent returning? Not going to the hospital? Harper overhearing the phone calls and declarations of love?
6. Drinking in the bar, the encounter with Johnny, with Cherry? Talking, discontent, the ambiguity of his message? Cherry and Johnny?
7. Johnny arriving the next day, Harper saying that he was drunk, confused? Johnny and his pressure about getting rid of the stepfather? Harper at the door, on each side of the door, his decision to go, taking his car, the body? The travel, the moods, Johnny as a person, rough? The focus on Cherry? Flirting? Cherry and her background?
8. Harper in trouble, the destination for the body? The clashes between them? The role of the policeman? Interrogation? Threats? Getting into the boot of the car? Death?
9. The flashback to the morning, Vincent, the phone call, the clash with Harper? Harper getting Paul to bring the drugs?
10. Johnny and his owing money to Frank, the fake drugs, confrontation with Frank, the deadline, his fear, the violence?
11. The body in the car, the discovery of the body? The challenge of the police?
12. The truth about Vincent, the phone calls to his wife in hospital, his love for her? No affair?
13. Harper, the background of the Strangers on the Train story, the variation? The hit and the consequences?
