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Friday, December 7, 2012
THE TEN BEST FILMS OF 2012
1
Ann Dowd in Craig Zobel's drama "Compliance". Adam
Stone/Magnolia Pictures
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW
Friday, December 7,
2012
COMPLIANCE
The year's best film, "Compliance" is an excellent
experiment of human behavior and the response to authority figures. Or a
horror story. Craig Zobel's drama is informed by the 1961 Milgram
experiments, the 1971 Stanford prison experiment and inspired by the true events
in an April 2004 prank phone call to a fast-food restaurant that led to
disastrous and wrenching treatment of one of its employees. Even in the
comfort of one's home "Compliance" is
uncomfortable viewing and an exercise in
suspension of disbelief despite its reality-based story.
Mr. Zobel skillfully balances the scales of prurience and titillation on one
side with tastefulness and tact on the other as he chronicles the slow, downward
spiral of those at a fast-food restaurant in Ohio when a man claiming to be a
cop calls in accusing a young woman of theft. "Compliance" provokes,
stimulates and shocks, though never in exploitative ways. Magnificent
cinematography (especially in camera movement) by Adam Stone, flawless editing
by Jane Rizzo, and the year's best lead actress performance by Ann Dowd as
Sandra, a complex figure as the restaurant's manager.
The entire cast is perfect. (Dreama
Walker,
Pat Healy, Nikiya Mathis, Stephen Payne,
Ashlie Atkinson, Bill Camp, James McCaffrey, Philip Ettinger.) There's
great artistry here, and the juxtapositions of people and food even suggests or
at least hints at the horrors detailed in Upton Sinclair's muckraking classic
book The Jungle. This film will have you talking for a long time.
In that sense "Compliance" brings you more than your money's worth, whether you
like it or not.
Released in the U.S. in August 2012. One hour and 30 minutes. On
Blu-Ray and DVD in the U.S. on January 8, 2013. Distributor: Magnolia
Pictures. Original
review.
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
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