frontman

Thank you so much for your thoughtful, well-reasoned, and honest personal assessment of the film. Yes, I did - and always will - want the absolute, unvarnished version of feedback. I can take it, and it only helps to know what people REALLY think - whether they love it or hate it, or somewhere in between.

We could talk about it sometime but in brief, I'll just say that - again, for better or worse, depending on your perspective - pretty much everything you cited that, in places, made it a less (for lack of better terminology) comfortable or familiar viewing experience here and there was done completely intentionally. The camera operation at times wasn't 100% as I wished - which was the only serious casualty of the pace and budget of the production - but the CUs and ECUs were absolutely intended to force the eye and the viewer to have certain reactions, so your experience was along the lines of what I hoped for.

As for the ending: you're sort of on the wrong track about what happened, actually! It wasn't a passionate crime at all. Jessica and Jimmy were in cahoots the ENTIRE time, conspiring - in cold blood - against Dutch. This is foreshadowed and setup extensively from the beginning - the black and white shots to indicate Jessica's hidden camera, the subtle color shifts, image degradations and sound changes that accompany certain knowing looks between the two, the intentional misdirection re: who is in the bed with Jimmy in the beginning, the line about "I've always been in love with Jessica" while he's holding those panties that we learn belong to someone else, and most importantly: the denouement of the nightclub redux that allows you to finally hear what was being said. Remember Jimmy and Jessica's last lines? Jimmy: "I have been (in a romantic relationship)" met with Jessica's "I know you have, sweetie, and you WILL be again. I'm CONFIDENT of this fact." Why is she so confident, and why do they share yet another look as she says that? Because they are in one together at that very moment in time.

And oh, SHE is, of course, truly behind it all, manipulating Jimmy to do her will while letting him think that he's in charge. It's a triple reversal. Nice, huh?

Okay, so I guess I said everything here after all! Heh heh. Hey, thanks again for your thoughts. I do appreciate it, bro.