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MAN IN RED
Produced, Directed, and Written by Gladys Bensimon
Edited by David Schmura
Director of Photography - Matthew WagenkneechtJack - Francis Dumaurier
Marie - Debbie Pingitore
George - J.T. TorranceI have a confession, I wear women's lingerie. I'm not talking the tame, white, lace stuff either. For me it's got to be the red, sexy, frilly, see-through kind. Not even my wife can get me as turned on as when I'm wearing a corset and garter.
Purrrr, baby, purrr!!!!
Just kidding. I don't really wear lingerie, I'm not that interesting. I'm trying to get into the mindset of Jack, the title character in Gladys Bensimon's slice of life comedy MAN IN RED. For the life of me, I can't do it. Am I that closed-minded sexually that I can't except another man's sexual hang-up? Do I relate too much with Jack's wife and believe that conventional sex rolls are what lead to healthy relationships?
No, the problem isn't me at all. The film never truly conveys Jack's frame of mind and Bensimon never allows us into his head just. In comedy, if the audience can't identify with the characters, then the humor will fall flat as flapjacks. Without a point of reference point, the audience never learns the extent of the comedy and the implications involved.
Instead of seeing the world through Jack's eyes, we are given a voyeuristic bird's eye view. It's very clinical and "safe." For this kind of comedy to work, the events that unfold must be more absurd than the ones prior. MAN IN RED is far too subtle for it's own good. Instead of an edgy satire on sexual politics, we are treated to a comedy of non-communication. While there are some genuinely delightful comic moments, they don't occur as frequently as they are needed.
Bensimon relies on broad characterizations too bring her point across, and luckily her actors are able to work within her undefined boundaries. The appeal of the characters seems to come from the actors themselves. With no apparent arc for the actors to develop their characters fully, the actors rely on their own personal charm to give their rolls life.
Francis Dumaurier and Debbie Pingitore, as Jack and Marie, are the souls that hold the film together and allow it to work as much as it does. It's their chemistry on screen that allows me to buy into their relationship. I don't believe their story, but I believe them as actors. I believe their love, their pain, and their frustration, but not their choices.
In a film that feels half-complete, Francis Dumaurier and Debbie Pingitore are a pleasure to watch. But acting alone doesn't make a film. To work completely, all the elements have to come together. It's too bad the story doesn't, the characters deserve more.
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