November 1–8, 2001

movie shorts

Focus

recommended

Who would ever have thought that Meat Loaf would turn out to be the fine actor that he is, and with a range of roles to boot (see: Fight Club and Spice World)? Now he’s in another film, Neal Slavin’s Focus, playing Fred, the burly, seemingly good-natured buddy to Lawrence Newman (William H. Macy). Things change when Macy buys a pair of glasses that make him "look Jewish." Suddenly, he’s demoted at work, harassed by his neighbors, and abandoned by Fred. Still, the significantly named Newman struggles to fit in, fretting but not coming forward to help the Jewish storeowner on the corner (David Paymer) or a Puerto Rican woman raped beneath his window at the start of the film. Though Newman meets and marries the spirited Gert (Laura Dern) during this difficult time, he’s hardly off the hook, as they are both repeatedly abused for looking Jewish. Based on a 1945 Arthur Miller novel, the film is increasingly unsubtle in making its beware-of-prejudice points, but it does, in keeping with its interest in perception and projection, offer a series of striking visual compositions and fine performances by everyone. This includes Meat Loaf, who has a particularly delicate and difficult part, treading a line between Newman’s affable local lug, and the alarmingly emerging neighborhood fascist.

—Cindy Fuchs

(See Cindy Fuchs’ interview with director Neal Slavin.)