Sameer Callahan
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Tyreece Hulme
One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
Aspen Orson
There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.
merklekranz
This is an interesting idea gone bad. The hidden meanings in art left as clues by a serial killer sounds intriguing, but the execution in "Anamorph" is excruciatingly slow and without much interest. There is no other way to describe the film except boring. The death clues are the only interesting part of "Anamorph". Everything connecting them is tedious. Willem Dafoe gives a credible performance as the investigator, but he has little to do with a script that is stretched to the limit. Several supporting character actors are wasted , including Peter Stormare as the art expert, James Rebhorn as the police chief, Paul Lazar as the medical examiner, and most notably Deborah Harry, who is featured on the back of the DVD case, yet only has a couple lines spoken through a cracked door. Not recommended. - MERK
jonathanruano
Anamorph is about an ex-detective, named Stan (Willem Dafoe), who is brought back from retirement to hunt down a serial killer with a strange artistic fetish. The twist in this movie is that the serial killer is strangely similar to the one which Stan allegedly killed (a man with the catchy name "Uncle Eddie") a few years ago. This serial killer, like the allegedly dead one, likes to display his victims as Renaissance art and he even resorts to anamorphosis – which explains the title of the movie. While watching Anamorph, I liked seeing Stan and the art dealer (Peter Stormare in the film's only fresh performance) talk about art and serial killers. I even liked the scene at the end, with the mournful violins and the victim choking on his own blood. The problem was that the rest of the movie was dismal. The film never really got us involved in the lives of its characters, with the result that we never cared whether they lived or died. Watching Stan go through a serious depression and drink himself to death was boring. The other police officers were clichés, while the female victim at the end was not presented in a sympathetic way. These failings would not be a problem if the film had plenty of high-energy action sequences and witty dialogue, like Eraser (1998) did. Unfortunately, Anamorph is a grim, dark, and depressing film which tries to use atmosphere to make some profound statement about Stan and the other characters. The atmospheric scenes fail to do this, because Stan, the serial killer, and others are not interesting enough to be the subject of any character study. Anamorph is not like "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" which taught us something about the psychology of the serial killer.Anamorph has a fresh set-up with a serial killer who brazenly depicts his victims as Renaissance art, interesting dialogue from Stomare, and an entertaining ending. But I cannot recommend the picture, because the hero and villain are so boring and the atmospheric scenes simply do not achieve their aim.
xvoraz
First of all, lets assume that this is a thriller-crime movie and thus is to be interpreted in the context of Silence of the Lamb and other serial killer movies. Thats all right, I like the genre.What this genre needs is I think: 1) a psychological thread; a detective with psych issues, love, faith e.g. and these issues tend towards some sort of solution or elaboration 2) an intellectual thread; a complex, mind-stimulating, yet not too far- fetching murder case. 3) good realization; atmosphere that presents us the above two as (at least spiritually) real.This film accomplishes these tasks: 1) An obsessive+compulsive detective with affection problems, buried past etc. And there is "character development", I like the atypical disintegrating end which is barely relieved by the end title music. 2)An artist-killer is not a never-heard-of idea, but anamorphosis is good idea. I liked the way the murder cases interconnect. I liked the way this all leads to the past. I liked, that some characters say 'forget about the past' some say 'go back! its the same'. 3)atmosphere is good, music good, murder scenes especially good.Why did I gave it a 6? It is not original. Especially as for atmosphere creating, directing and filming. It is absolutely filled with clichés. There are original things are the character of the detective and the final...but maybe thats all... I still would say it is worth watching it, but it is just an other serial killer movie.
sitenoise
Some films are intentionally ambiguous leaving the final interpretation up to the viewer while others simply fail to tell a cohesive story causing the viewer to invent all kinds of theories about what the film was trying to say. Anamorph falls into the latter category.This is one of those films where the death/crime scene is a work of morbid art, in the tradition of Se7en and Silence of the Lambs. The film looks good with its fiery cinematography. It's paced well and Willem Dafoe turns in a smoldering performance as the aging cop we're never clear on just how torn apart are his insides. And that's where this film fails. It's never clear about much of anything and tries to justify itself via the concept of the anamorph whose rendering "Depends on where you stand." Flashbacks and reflective turmoil are used to try and fill in the blanks as to why Dafoe's character is so intimately connected to the crimes. The film's denouement gives us a silly special effect suggesting multiple personalities may be involved. But 'maybe this' and 'maybe that' aren't good enough and I'm confident that at film's end you will scratch your head and say "Whaaaa"? It's also disappointing that, surprisingly, we weren't treated to any really good anamorph illusions. Given the title of the film, I'm just saying ....
