OUT OF THE BLUE
US, 2022, 90 minutes, Colour.
Diane Kruger, Ray Nicholson, Gia Crovatin, Hank Azaria, Frederick Weller, Victor Slezak.
Directed by Neil LaBute.
For audiences who enjoy soap operas – especially if they have their steamy side!
The film was written and directed by veteran Neil LaBute who has made much more substantial films, both serious and satirical, in his past career, especially his very early films, In the Company of Men, Your Friends and Neighbours, The Shape of Things. This one is rather slight in comparison.
Twice the screenplay refers to the novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice, made as a film noir in the 1940s with Lana Turner and John Garfield, remade in 1981 with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange. (And the star here, Ray Nicholson, is Jack Nicholson’s son.)
So, this is a love story, an unlikely love story, in the film noir vein. But there is a jaunty tone all the way through, especially with very frequent captions indicating “three days later”, “that night”, “another seven days later”…
At first, Ray Nicholson’s Connor is sympathetic, young, out jogging, a job in the library, friendly with the library assistant. But he does spy Diane Kruger as Marilyn emerging from the surf. He is infatuated and begins an affair, she controlling it, married with an allegedly violent husband, with a stepdaughter. She calls the tunes, phone calls, Connor always responding.
Not hard to guess what is going to happen. Getting rid of Marilyn’s husband. And, that is what happens, no surprise except with our wondering how it will happen. Marilyn, of course, does all the setting up while poor Connor thinks he has it all in control. There is a complication when he meets the stepdaughter and her boyfriend who also turns up in the house at the time of the intended murder.
By this stage, we don’t like Connor at all, not wondering how he could have been seduced, but wondering how he could have been so taken in by Marilyn. There is a further complication when early enough, we find that he has been in jail, for a violent outburst, and that he is on parole – and there is a strangely amusing turn by Hank Azaria as his parole officer, trying to help,, oddball in his ways, but ultimately concerned about him after the murder.
No prizes for the audience in anticipating how it all works out, some sympathy forConnor at the end because of his being so taken in. And, a blend of annoyance and disgust at how Marilyn literally sails out of all the drama unscathed.
Only if you like this kind of thing!
