Fear X

Nicolas Winding Refn's Fear X is by no means an easy movie to watch. It is slow moving and often times difficult to understand, a fact that may not be helped by its stylistic cinematography and somewhat experimental scenes. But despite its flaws this movie has a remarkable and unique ability to draw us into the world of its central character, Harry(John Turturro). A world of unresolved grief and senseless loss. During the film I found myself emotionally invested in a character that I both struggled to understand and did not completely trust. I found myself desperately trying to make sense and understand the information presented to me. I became frustrated by the limitations of the median the information was being viewed from- film. Before long I really began to understand the ingenious nature of the movie. The result, Fear X is a movie that achieves something remarkable, an intentionally flawed story that the audience can experience on an emotional level. Those emotion you experience are ultimately left to the devises of viewer interpretation and a close viewing- in short a small amount of work.

Nicolas Winding Refn's first English-language feature film might have seemed overly ambitious for a director who at the time only had two films on his resume, but understandably within the arthouse realm Fear X found a niche that would eventually cement Refn as the director he is today. But to be honest, I enjoyed this film more than his last projects; The Neon Demon and Too Old to Die Young. The story centers on a security guard (John Turturro), as he is trying to find out the identity of his late wife's killer. His character embarks on a quest that eventually becomes more important than finding the answers. After all, it's that plot and Turturro's excellent performance that clearly earn this film its cult status. Refn doesn't steal the thrills from his thriller, but the film deteriorates when its final act relies more on the psychological aspect and the very uncertainty he brings to the plot, rather than letting the suspense do the work better, but still, this film has its fine strengths, and overall I was satisfied with the results.