Suture (Blu-Ray+Dvd)

http://www.renaud-bray.com

http://www.renaud-bray.com

*** Résumé en anglais seulement ***Inspired by the paranoid visions of John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate and Seconds, the desert noir of Detour and the black and white widescreen beauty of Hiroshi Teshigahara's The Face of Another and Woman of the Dunes, Suture is one of great feature debuts - by writer-directors David Siegel and Scott McGehee - and a truly unique piece of cinema. The wealthy and self-assured Vincent (Michael Harris) meets his blue collar half-brother Clay (Dennis Haysbert) at their father's funeral and is struck by their similarity. He decides to murder Clay and take his identity, only Clay survives the assassination attempt with no memory and is mistaken for Vincent. The fact that Harris is white and Haysbert is black only complicates a film that probes into the nature of identity. After viewing an early rough cut, Steven Soderbergh came on board as executive producer and enthusiastic patron. Suture went on to become a hit on the festival circuit, including Sundance where it deservedly won the award for Best Cinematography.This black-and-white neo-noir is written and directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, who also teamed up for 1999's Lush. Vincent Towers and Clay Arlington are half-brothers who meet for the first time at their father's funeral. The two share such an uncanny resemblance that when Vincent decides to fake his own death, he tries to substitute Clay as his body. Clay, amnesiac and not quite dead, finds himself the inheritor of both Vincent's money and his rather pressing problems. A fine plot for a suspense movie as it is, but McGehee and Siegel throw in the added twist of having Vincent played by a white actor and Clay by an African American. Oddly enough, the choice works, and raises the piece from a thriller to a meditation on the nature of identity. Suture includes several other interesting stylistic riffs as well: Clay's plastic surgeon is named Renee Descartes, and his psychiatrist works in an office decorated with huge Rorschach blowups. It's a pity Suture was so little seen in its original release--it offers both a compelling suspense plot and tasty mental candy to chew on.