The local debut of “Interview With the Assassin” on the 39th anniversary of the murder of John F. Kennedy might appear an act of commercial opportunism. But on its own terms, Neil Burger’s sharply conceived, inventive movie is a highly involving piece of work.
Burger binds two narrative strands–the paranoid conspiracy thriller and the self-reflexive, guerilla documentary–in a swirling, eerie frenzy of despair and emotional disruption. Shot in digital video by the gifted cinematographer Richard Rutkowski, the splotched, unstable look contributes to the movie’s eerie, foreboding tone.
Unfolding in a placid, anonymous suburban Los Angeles nook, the story begins with a confession. Strange loner Walter Ohlinger (Raymond J. Barry) summons neighbor Ron Kobeleski (Dylan Haggerty), an unemployed television news cameraman, to his house. There, Walter insists he was the second gunman on the grassy knoll, strategically positioned behind the crowd at Dealey Plaza that horrifying 1963 day in Dallas. Walter also maintains he fired the fatal shot.
Walter says he has only several months to live. Despite sketchy motives (“If you kill the most powerful man in the world, that makes you the most powerful,” he offers), Walter has a compelling piece of forensic evidence: He produces a shell casing that tests prove was fired in the early 1960s.
Ron becomes obsessed with proving the veracity of the man’s claims and the two undertake a journey–moving from Dallas, where Walter chillingly reconstructs the movement of the Kennedy motorcade and the well-coordinated killing, to an open Southwestern landscape that indicates Walter was a CIA-sponsored contract killer involved in the plot against Fidel Castro. Of course, it could prove an elaborate fantasy. Walter’s disgruntled former wife insists he was hospitalized in a mental institution at the time of the Kennedy assassination.
“Interview With the Assassin” is imbued with a sinister air of danger that unfortunately dissipates in the final moments. But the consummate actor Barry has done excellent work here. He has an authoritative presence and a sense of mystery and danger, that like this movie, demands to be taken seriously.
`Interview with the Assassin’
(star)(star)(star)
Directed and written by Neil Burger; produced by David Levien and Brian Koppelman; executive produced by Tom Tucker; photographed by Richard Rutkowski; edited by Brad Fuller; sound design by Tony Martinez; production design by Greg Finnin; costume design by Jenny Gering. Released by Magnolia Pictures. Opens Friday at Esquire and CineArts in Evanston. Running time: 1:28 No MPAA rating. Adult themes, violence and language.
Walter Ohlinger ………….. Raymond J. Barry
Ron Kobeleski ……………. Dylan Haggerty
Karen Kobeleski ………….. Renee Faia
Sharon Kobeleski …………. Kelsey Kemper
