Movies

A lonely woman sees something she can’t unsee in ‘Gazer,’ an industrious thriller

BBG News

The main character of the low-budget mystery “Gazer,” directed by Ryan J. Sloan for his first feature film, is Frankie – a petite woman from New Jersey with a stooped posture, striking eyes, and a short, spiky haircut. At first glance, her gaunt, sunken appearance, often covered in a hoodie and engrossed in self-recorded cassette tapes, might lead you to believe she’d be a minor, peculiar character in someone else’s suspenseful story. However, this isn’t the case here.

However, the main character, portrayed powerfully by Ariella Mastroianni who also co-wrote the script, has a solitary and troubled existence due to a neurological disorder. This enigmatic figure gives this suspenseful film its unique appeal. When it subtly avoids obvious cinematic influences and its narrative details aren’t overly vague, this introspective movie demonstrates that independent urban noir can remain a compelling platform for emerging talents.

The captivating tale behind this film, transitioning from DIY to OMG, is incredibly inspiring: A passionate New Jersey electrician named Sloan, along with his fellow film enthusiast Mastroianni, managed their filming on weekends over a span of two years. Remarkably, their creation, titled “Gazer,” was accepted in the Directors’ Fortnight at last year’s Cannes Film Festival – an extraordinary achievement for such an unprecedented entry. It’s plausible that the French festival organizers were reminded of their own legacy of enthusiasts-turned-filmmakers, like François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, and found themselves drawn to the profound love for cinema portrayed within it.

One aspect that sets “Gazer” apart is the immediate close-up on Mastroianni’s eyes, which establishes the familiar element of a crime being observed. Instead of attending to her gas station duties, Frankie finds herself fixated on an apartment block opposite her location, where she thinks she sees a violent act taking place in a window. Her attention is drawn away from work as she tries to stay alert and focused. A disheveled woman then exits the building, notices Frankie’s gaze, and disappears into the night.

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At a later grief support group session, the woman identified as Paige (Renee Gagner) steps forward, shares her apprehensions towards an abusive brother, and requests assistance from Frankie for which she’s willing to pay. With financial struggles of her own, as a young widow barely managing life without custody of her child and dealing with a disorder causing memory lapses, Frankie accepts the offer. However, sleep does not bring relief due to unsettling nightmares involving body horror that mirror the circumstances surrounding her late husband’s demise. More pressing, it soon becomes evident that the enigmatic stranger is not what they appear to be, and in a sudden twist, Frankie finds herself in peril.

Hey there, directors like Hitchcock, De Palma, Nolan, Cronenberg, Lynch, and Lodge Kerrigan (“Keane”) are impressive, but let’s not forget Sloan! Even though he might not be in the same league, working alongside Matheus Bastos, his cinematographer, in a gritty urban landscape of warehouses, motels, and side streets, Sloan manages to create an unsettling atmosphere with every shadowy corner.

Sloan’s peekaboo game is great for beginners, but his lengthy dream sequences, while intriguing glimpses into Frankie’s mind, eventually feel more like stylistic additions rather than essential parts of the story. The same criticism applies to how he handles Frankie’s actual condition, dyschronometria, which one might expect to fit perfectly in a suspenseful time-ticking movie, but unfortunately doesn’t develop as effectively as “Memento” did with its protagonist’s amnesia.

Instead of relying on that typical character trope, what truly stands out about Frankie’s portrayal is the authentic, worn-in melancholy that permeates her struggles for survival, lending a raw, heartfelt intensity to her story. Mastroianni skillfully captures our attention and tugs at our heartstrings as a damaged hero who manages to stay away from the abyss, despite being so close to it. The term “Gazer” hints at a promising future for the determined, self-assured creators who have brought this genre piece to life.

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2025-04-12 03:31

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