This week on Spectrum Culture, my reviews of Inside Man (2006) and Dreams of a Life (2012):
Denzel Washington plays the charismatic, group-hopping Detective Frazier to near perfection. Yet the quirky detective is not as easy to categorize as he first seems. Personable and eccentric, Frazier is also prone to non-sequiturs about his girlfriend and possesses the uncanny ability to ask the exact right question of a suspect, seemingly without realizing its importance. It’s all very Columbo, but it becomes clear soon enough that while Frazier may bear a surface resemblance to Columbo, or is perhaps even deliberately affecting Columbo’s mannerisms to hide his true self, Detective Frazier is no Columbo.
We presume that even if we check out of society willingly, a safety net of sorts exists via bill collectors, repossessors, government, taxes and, in Joyce’s case, social workers. Even if there are no longer co-workers, family or friends in our lives, we cynically believe those who want our money will eventually be around, though clearly that is not true. Joyce was certainly not the first to fall victim to being forgotten; the cases of Yvette Vickers, David Carter, Robert Roll and plenty of others have made the news over the last year or so, yet we still believe no one can never be truly overlooked.
Follow the links to read the full reviews at Spectrum Culture Online.