A Spanish Film

Time for another recommendation from Netflix, a thriller/mystery called The Spanish Prisoner. A smalller, apparently independent film from back in 1998, I had never heard of it before. But it was written and directed by David Mamet, which got my interest up enough to check it out.

It's a movie about an inventor working under contract for a corporation, a man who has just stumbled on to "something big." (In true MacGuffin tradition, we're never really told exactly what it is.) The man soon finds himself entangled in a world of espionage, first corporate, and then possibly more, as his employers, and then his acquaintances, try to wrest the secret from him. That may be a bit vague, but it's hard to say too much about the story without wrecking some of the fun of it, should you ever watch it yourself.

Ultimately, it's a topsy-turvy sort of movie, where you have to question everyone's truthfulness and motivation. And David Mamet is a really good writer to do justice to such an idea. It's a very carefully plotted story where nearly every moment serves some specific and important purpose in the greater whole. Unfortunately, Mamet is not so strong a director. Perhaps because his background is in theater, he never uses the camera in any interesting or informative ways.

The acting is a mixed bag. David Mamet has always liked using Ricky Jay and Rebecca Pidgeon in his work, and I find them both terrible actors. Mamet's dialogue is always full of unfinished thoughts, overlapping characters, interruptions, and repetition. When handled by good actors, it's a wonderful style I quite enjoy. These two come off robotic -- stilted and unnatural. I don't know what to make of the fact that Mamet himself clearly likes it this way, since he keeps casting these two in almost all his stuff... but there it is.

Fortunately, both are in small roles. The main character is Campbell Scott (who just played a major part in the most recent season of Damages). Also appearing are Steve Martin (surprisingly adept at the Mamet style), Felicity Huffman (great as usual, but in a rather different part than usual here), and in a small cameo, Ed O'Neill. These people manage to smooth away the awkwardness of the others.

The movie is pretty good overall, but perhaps a touch too clever for its own good. Early plot twists are engaging, and there's a nice balance of things you're meant to see coming with things you don't. But I think in the last 15 minutes or so, it sort of goes farther than it has to in trying to seem clever and surprising. It's still worth seeing, but isn't Mamet's strongest work. I rate it a B-.