LOOKING GLASS

US, 2018, 103 minutes, Colour.
Nicolas Cage, Robin Tunney, Mark Blucas, Ernie Lively, Jacque Gray.
Directed by Tim Hunter.

For more than a decade, Nicolas Cage made a substantial number of films each year. This is one scheduled out of six for 2018. If one looks at the variety of Cage films, he does offer a variety of performances as well as variation of hair and lack of hair!

Robin Tunney portrays his wife here, their daughter having died in an accident, he drunk, she high on drugs, both blameworthy but deciding on a new venture in life, taking on the management of a motel in a desert town.

The film is something of a slow-burner. Cage, Ray, cannot sleep, wanders, is curious, finds a basement in the tunnel behind the motel rooms with mirrors looking into them. Ray looks at the truckie, Tommy, who brings different women. He also sees an enigmatic woman visitor and some sexual encounters.

There is something eerie about the atmosphere of the motel, the proprietor of the shop opposite watching, young men around the town also watching. The sheriff, Mark Blucas, also visits, asks questions, wants to get in touch with the previous owner. There has been a murder, the night when Ray visited to look over the motel. Then a dead pig is tossed into the swimming pool with a note with the name of the dead woman. Another dead woman is found floating in the river.

The film builds up to something of attention, suspicions on the sheriff, contact with the previous owner but his being shot, the threat to his wife, and cabaret looking through the looking glass and bursting in to confront the villain.

The direction is by Tim Hunter who had early prospects with Tex, Rivers Edge, The Saint of Fort Washington, but his career has been extensive in television series.

1. Thriller? Murder mystery?

2. The desert town, the surrounding countryside, the motel, the garage? Life at the motel? The musical score?

3. Nicolas Cage and his prolific career? Range of characters?

4. The mystery about the couple, Ray and Maggie, the flashbacks to their daughter, her death? The later explanations? Driving through the desert, the relationship, tensions, the pitstop, arriving at night?

5. The mystery of the motel, the key under the door, their going in, inspecting? The phone call to the previous owner? His suddenly leaving town? The previous visit to inspect the motel, Ray and his decision to branch out?

6. The town, the proprietor of the shop, the young men at the garage, the visits to the motel, the mysterious women, Tommy the truck driver? Ray and his dealings with the clients? Maggie meeting them?

7. Ray and his tensions, wandering around, examining all the rooms? Discovering the basement, buying the wire cutters, the corridor, the mirrors into each of the rooms? Ray returning, the sequences of the women and their sexual encounters? Tommy and the range of women he brought? Especially for room 10? The effect on Ray, the voyeur curiosity, his dreams about the large woman in bed, the sexual provocation by the women, the sexual relationship with Maggie?

8. Tommy, his character, the truckie, married, bringing women to the room? Ray letting him be?

9. Ray following the woman, the mysterious death, the newsreel information, the previous woman'sdeath, the pig in the swimming pool, the note, Chrissy, removing the pig, burning it? Finding the woman at the diner, talking with her, the man bashing Ray?

10. Howard, the sheriff, personality, the visits, the drinking coffee, even in the heat, changing to tea? The conversations? His wanting to get in touch with the previous owner, Ray trying to contact him, the severed phone connection? The sheriff and the discussions about the dead woman, interrogating Ray, the woman killed the night that Ray had visited the motel first?

11. Maggie, her being upset, not understanding Ray, his confession about voyeurism? Her wanting to leave?

12. The explanation of what happened to their daughter, Ray and his drinking, Maggie and her drugtaking?

13. Ray making contact with the owner, the rendezvous for meeting, the old man and his warnings, his being shot?

14. Howard and his tying up Maggie, with the gun, the sexual threat? Ray breaking through the looking glass, the fight, Howards death?

15. The effect on the couple and their future?