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Reviews for January 4th, 2012






The Hunter

Directed by Rafi Pitts






      Ali (Rafi Pitts), recently released from prison, accepts a nightshift job at a local factory to support his wife (Mitra Hajjar) and young daughter (Saba Yaghoobi). When the two of them go missing, Ali desperately tries to search for them and to seek the assistance of police before taking matters into his own hands. He eventually finds himself on the run from the police for reasons that won't be spoiled here.

      Writer/director Rafi Pitts takes an initially intriguing premise and squanders many opportunities to generating palpable tension, provocativeness or even emotional depth. The main problem lies in the fact that Ali behaves so emotionally reserved that you never have the chance to truly get inside his head to grasp what he's thinking or feeling. Essentially, Pitts leaves a lot of room for interpretation which is tolerable, but only up to a certain degree. You don't even learn about why Ali committed the crime that sent him to prison to begin with. Moreover, there aren't enough scenes showing Ali bonding with his wife and child or anyone for that matter. Those omissions makes the script feel lazy and, ultimately, leaves you somewhat frustrated and underwhelmed as you search for answers that aren't there before realizing that no one comes to life onscreen, so you never really care about them.

      On a positive note, Pitts does make the most out of the cinematography and the scenery itself to generate a somewhat eerie and melancholic mood. A particularly memorable and even somewhat breathtaking scene occurs during a chase sequence through the fog on a mountainous road. If there were more moments like that, The Hunter would have at least been entertaining on a visceral level.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3
Opens at the IFC Center.
Released by Olive Films.



It's About You

Directed by Ian and Kurt Markus




Number of times I checked my watch: 5
Opens at the IFC Center.
Released by MPI Media Group.


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