Above Suspicion
MADMANWhen true stories weave their way into cinema, the end goal should be to make them not just convincing, but entertaining. That is the sad and twisted way we as an audience must consider death and destruction, but Above Suspicion feels like a film made for the true-crime lover. Phillip Noyce’s latest piece offers such a story, opening with narration from its victim, Susan Smith (Emilia Clarke). Thus, the film is not about what is happening, but why. Is the “why” not just more important than the “what”, but more interesting too? No. Not particularly.
Clarke is shackled to a not-quite-convincing Texan accent, but there is hope for her yet. She is plugging away at just about any role she can, and Above Suspicion does feel somewhat of a step in the right direction. “Parkville, Kentucky, the town that never let’s go,” she says in her opening narration. What that means is anyone’s guess, for scriptwriters Chris Gerolmo and Joe Sharkey never touch upon that thought again. Still, it is a film that coasts along on the premise alone. Most of Above Suspicion is a stretch. There is a new struggle around every corner, and it is the writing that needs to display the energy and desire to show these stories as something more than forgettable dialogue. They are attempting to show the stagnation of city living in the 1980s. The mines are closed and there is no work but in the funeral business or drug running.
Still, that is where the story springs to life. Smith was desperate for an escape, which is shown well enough. Her chance encounter with Mark (Jack Huston) leaves the lingering desires of escapism on her mind. She has been ground down to believe that anything would be better than her current situation, and Noyce’s direction does a good job of convincing his audience of that. Frankly, it is boring. There is no way around it. There are moments of tension presented, and a clear goal for the leading character to achieve, but the knowledge that Smith will die is not enough to engage with the very simplistic way her story is told. Sometimes, it verges on uncontrollably poor levels, such as a scene where Smith is at a party, the camera stuttering and shaking as if it were stop-motion animation than actual filming.
Decades ago, Noyce was crafting sharp adaptations of Tom Clancy novels, now he is slumming it with the true-crime wave. A wave that will recede rather quickly if this is the quality we can expect. His direction is erratic and serves little purpose, and while he does coax decent performances out of Clarke and Huston, he mires them with thick dialogue and thicker accents. These are good actors trapped in roles that do not quite suit them. Above Suspicion will soon be the type of film that both actors and audiences will do their best to try and forget about.