Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Xitij Thool NOT A typical movie as name suggested. This is a classic tale between two person one is aspiring filmmaker and A serial Killer.Starting was obvious as blood thirsty killer caught but what happens when many dramatic turns makes the this movie watchable. The viewer's attention is not even lost for few seconds, mind grappling movie. Enjoy

MBunge It's usually easy to notice the big things that go wrong with a film. One of the lead actors might as well be carved out of stone or the director has no idea how to end a scene or the script wanders about the countryside like a lost little girl. A lot of times, though, it's getting the little things right that elevate a movie from run-of-the-mill schlock to something worthwhile. The Perfect Witness gets just enough of those little things right to make this a decent flick, even though it gets its one big thing slightly wrong.Mickey Gravatski (Wes Bentley) is a recovering drug addict who's been reduced to living with his aged mother. He has pretensions of being a filmmaker and has been obsessively pursuing a morally unorthodox way of getting his big break in show business. Mickey has been tracking a local serial killer and when he finally catches him on video killing a girl, he threatens to turn the tape over to the police unless the killer lets Mickey make a documentary about him. The murderer, James Lemac (Mark Borkowski), reluctantly consents and lets Mickey into his world…but only long enough to kidnap Mickey's aged mother. That's when James makes it clear that a documentary will be done, but only on his terms and Mickey is forced to scramble for a way to save his mother and himself.The Perfect Witness has much in common with many mediocre to bad films out there. The dialog is pedestrian, the camera work is mostly just okay and plot doesn't have much flow or pace to it. However, it consistently gets so many little moments absolutely right to distract you from its weaknesses and that starts from the very beginning. The movie opens with Mickey in a dark alley. He has his camera sees a woman burst out of a doorway, trying to escape from Lemac. Mickey is dozens of yards away and films Lemac stabbing the girl to death, then barely escaping with his life when Lemac sees him and chases after him.Here's how filmmakers Thomas Dunn and Mark Borkowski get it right. Mickey's plan to blackmail a serial killer into doing a documentary is repellent and brutally selfish. He's really a terrible person for thinking of something like that, let alone trying to go through with it. But the audience doesn't know that when we first see Mickey in that alley. We don't know who he is or why he's in that alley, only that he witnesses a murder and then flees from the killer. Not only does that lead the viewer to empathize with Mickey, but you naturally classify him as "the good guy" because he's presented in uncompromised contrast to the bad guy. Even the way the scene is staged, Mickey is far enough away from the killing that you don't judge him for not trying to stop it. That opening scene is then followed up by some relatively subtle business that establishes both Mickey's down-on-his-luck circumstances and his desperate desire to make something of himself.So, a connection is formed between the audience and Mickey. They're led to see him as "the hero" and then given the context of his life and what he's trying to do about it. That's when we find out about Mickey's awful agenda but by then, we're invested enough in the character to care. This story could have easily begun in a different way that didn't engage the viewer at all. It could have started with Mickey getting the idea of his serial killer documentary or dropped us into the midst of Mickey's efforts to track the killer or his planning of how to get him on film to blackmail him. The problem is that my reaction, and I think the reaction of others, to that would be…"Why should I give a damn what happens to this horrible Mickey guy?"These filmmakers understand that what Mickey is planning to do is awful and he's an awful person for doing it, so they need to get the viewer to engage with Mickey and care about him, even if in only a shallow way, before revealing his plan. I have seen so many pathetic excuses of motion pictures where the people involved have obviously never considered the nature of their story or the need to appeal to the audience. They're clearly caught up in how "edgy" and "cool" they think they are and just as clearly expect the audience to almost feel privileged to be able to see their cinematic masterpiece. The Perfect Witness never does any of that. It's always hitting the correct note in the right way to get and keep the audience's attention.With all those little things just right, it becomes easy to forgive the film for kind of floundering for a point. This thing does not have the pace or plot to be a thriller and instead is going for more of a character-driven drama, setting up Mickey and Lemac as mirror image addicts with mother issues. But I don't think these filmmakers ever quite figured out what the point of that reflection was supposed to be and where it was going to lead to. That sort of confusion is usually fatal to a movie, but so much else about The Perfect Witness works so well that here, it's a minor annoyance.The people who made this film are people who should make films for a living. That may sound like faint praise, but with all the filmmakers out there who should really be cleaning out septic tanks and doing land surveying for the local zoning board, it isn't.

sol1218 **SPOILERS** Disturbing and scary insight of what make a serial killer tick in that he, like almost all his type, has both a good as well as murderous side to him. Which makes him more dangerous in that he's not that easy to identify by both the police and his unsuspecting victims.In the movie recovering alcoholic and armature film maker Mickey "Mick" Garvatski,Wes Bently, catches on video tape serial killer James Lemac, Mark Borowski, in the act as he brutally murders a young women in a dark alley. Instead of turning the tape over to the police Mick decides to blackmail James in giving him the story behind his actions and later, if James is either caught or killed by the police, releasing the video as a TV documentary. To make sure that James doesn't include him as one of his victims Mick has a number of copies made of the tape by his friend Gino, Albert Lopez-Murtra, just in case James decides not to cooperate with him.Having no choice but in going along with Mick's unusual plan James starts to manipulate him into being an accomplice in a future murder of his that will, if Mick decides to turn James over to the police, make him just as guilty of first degree murder as James is! To get Mick even more under his control James tracks down his somewhat not too mentally stable mother Klara, Maria Haufrecht, and kidnaps her to doubly make sure that Mick doesn't rat him out to the police.As Mick starts to get closer to what's behind James murderous impulses he starts to realizes that it all started when he was six years old. Abused by his mother Emma Lemac, Beth Grant, who not only mistreated him but his kid sister Megan, Joanna Baron, as well had James when he reached adulthood strike out at society. Starting his career as a heartless killer by torturing and killing cats James graduated in doing the same to young women who he, in James sick mind, substituted for his hated and deceased mother! ****SPOILER ALERT**** It's towards the end of the movie that James comes to realize that the person-his mother-that initiated his extreme hatred is in fact alive not dead like he was lead to believe all these years! It's then that the cool clam and collective James Lemac for the first time in the movie loses it. With that shocking revelation a mentally and emotionally destroyed Mick is driven, by circumstances beyond his control, to do what even the cold blooded serial killer James Lumac couldn't! And that leads to the horrific bloodbath that breaks out, in a major Philadelphia hospital no less, at the end of the film!Despite the films many inconsistencies it does make it's point in what's the reasons behind the actions of serial killer James Lemac. The big surprise in the film is how someone like Mick Gravatski could let himself be taken in by the clever and ruthless killer. Not being all there, in him being a recovering alcoholic and drug abuser, to begin with Mick completely underestimated James ability to short-circuit his mindless plan to use him to his advantage. And it was that what lead Mick to end up doing something so bloody and outrageous that even the mindless psycho killer James was incapable of doing!

shingka Finally, a "serial killer" film that carries a message and not just a knife. At first, I thought it was another "Mr. Brooks"-- but within moments, especially after seeing Mark (the killer) Borkowski's opening scene-- I knew that this is what Mr. Brooks should have been! It actually reminded me of an Abel Ferrera film; it was shot documentary style with a rich texture filled with severe earth tones. This film geek really appreciated what Thomas Dunn was trying to do. He was taking the "villian" to whole new level in making him a piece of all of us. "Personal Accountability" is the essence and message of this movie. I'm just afraid its going to be caught up in the "slasher" genre and it is so NOT that at all. And where did Mark Borkowski come from? I have to research him and find out what rock he has been hiding under. He was the best (and most human) serial killer I have ever seen in a movie. Oh, and don't blink, you'll miss Kenny Johnson (from The Shield). Wild, seeing Kenny in such an inner city, Ferrera-esquire film. Watch it. And don't blink!