Auto Focus
(2002)
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AUTO FOCUS is the story of Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear), who was the star of the American television series Hogan's Heroes in the 1960s. Before he achieved that particular fame, Crane was a popular radio talk show host in Hollywood. His television work brought him a level of visibility and notoriety that he turned directly into sexual opportunity. Gallivanting with sleazy audiovisual salesman John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe), Crane built a life as a desperately addicted sex maniac. As the first home video cameras were invented, Carpenter and Crane began a prolific hobby of coercing girls to appear on tape while engaging in lewd sexual acts. The more intensely obsessed Crane became with his habit, the less his acting career mattered. He divorced his wife, allowing her custody of their two children, and remarried, having another son, only to divorce again. Meanwhile, his relentless sexual exploits became increasingly impersonal and mean-spirited. His public image suffered as he shamelessly made tasteless, sexualized remarks and got a reputation for openly displaying photographs of himself receiving oral sex. Paul Schrader's powerful, deeply effective, and darkly disturbing film makes a 180-degree transition as its story rolls out. What begins as a happy, colorful, naive portrayal of the entertainment industry becomes the nightmare of one man's disintegration in the face of temptation, money, and power. |
As the writer of Taxi Driver and writer/director of American Gigolo, Paul Schrader has always been drawn to the dark side of sexuality — mostly in order to chart its corrosive effects on character — and this is his most sustained and successful treatment of the subject so far. Based on the experiences of actor Bob Crane (star of the 1960s US sitcom Hogan's Heroes), it charts his descent into a libidinous hell as he becomes addicted to casual sex, videotaping an endless succession of meaningless encounters (aided by Willem Dafoe's noxious video technician). Greg Kinnear is excellent as the vacuous hedonist who can't see his repellent behaviour as anything but “healthy”, and there's also a standout performance from Ron Leibman as the tender-hearted agent who watches with horror as his client's life implodes. The subject matter may be too raw for some — Schrader doesn't spare us the numerous, often depressing sex acts — but in the end Auto Focus is an intensely moral and often unexpectedly funny tour de force.
Halliwell's Film Guide
Based on the life and murder of Bob Crane, star of Hogan's Heroes, this cautionary tale of sleazy, voyeuristic masculinity lacks resonance outside the US, where Crane was unknown, and never quite manages to convey a wider significance.