Interview with the Assassin

Not knowing what to expect, I recorded this on broadcast TV and was riveted from the opening scene. I usually like movies about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, and this was a great example.

The sense of place and tension was gripping, even with no soundtrack. The very lack of music added to the stark feel. A subtle scene involving video surveillance was especially chilling. It makes other movies seem overproduced and fake. They should use this technique in a lot more films. No need to involve a cameraman's angle; just have everyone talk and act naturally. Most movie dialog is too slick.

It's hard to imagine anyone else in the role of the shooter, laconically yet frighteningly played by Raymond J. Barry. He's one of those actors you know you've seen before but can't quite place. I'm going to check out his other movies to see if he pulls off that same quality.

Without giving away the ending, I don't think they could have done it any better. IWTA isn't as overtly scary as a more famous pseudo-documentary about a witch, but I put the two films in a similar category. You have to wonder if this was inspired by the BWP concept. It's excellent either way. I'll have to watch it again to catch anything they cut on TV.

I learned an important lesson from Interview with the Assassins. If your elderly neighbor claims to have shot John F. Kennedy... run. Rob Kobeleski, the main character of this film, unfortunately didn't know that. Interview with the Assassin is about a reporter, Rob, whose neighbor, Walter, claims to have been the second gunman on the grassy knoll on that fateful day in Dallas back in 1963. Intrigued, Rob tries to learn more, but gets himself in over his head as a massive conspiracy unfolds around he and Walt, putting both of their lives in more danger than he could have imagined.

The intriguing catch to this film is that it is all shot from Rob's perspective. Rob operates the camera and we follow the story along from his eyes and his vantage point. It adds a very unique allure to a film with an oddly compelling story. It makes the film a very interesting watch and it engages us in the story in a very different way. Of course, without this gimmick Interview with the Assassin likely wouldn't amount to anything, but that is usually the case with these kinds of films; see Cloverfield or The Blair Witch Project.

Personally, I'm a sucker for these types of films. I haven't seen one in this style that I didn't like, and the same goes for Interview with the Assassin. It's a great little film that excellently blends suspense, action, and gripping drama. The story is one of those that makes you turn your head in confusion at multiple points, sometimes out of absurdity but mostly out of genuine interest in the bizarre story that unfolds in this film. There are definitely some odd and possibly unnecessary elements in the film, and the script falters at points, but overall this is a unique experience. Granted it doesn't amount to a whole lot and you can sort of see the climax coming, but for a relatively short film it's totally worth the watch.

Raymond J Barry carrying his paranoia like a badge of honor takes us for a extraordinary ride of the creepiest kind. Feeding into our own fascination with all the conspiracy theories surrounding the JFK assassination. Neil Burger brilliantly concocts a mock documentary that feels truer than most real documentaries and I was taken in, totally. I felt as eager to get to the mysterious John Seymour as the interviewer - a splendid Dylan Haggerthy -. The interview of the assassin's ex wife, played chillingly real by Kate Williamson, is a little gem on its own and the performances, if you can call them that, are uniformly startling, embedded in that, clumsy but undeniable truth that only non professional actors are capable of. Recommended for Unsolved Mysteries junkies as well as for film lovers everywhere

Why aren't there more comments and viewers for this disturbing little gem? The best conspiracy movie(JFK, PI or otherwise) in may a year hits all the right notes technically and plot wise. Filmmed digitally (SONY PD-150) with such skill that you'll be checking your TV/DVD resolution in the first five minutes, the filmmakers use every advantage and disadvatage of the digital format to their benefit. The camera work begins static, rigid local TV news style then slowly takes on a subtle impressionistic style that blurs the line between docudrama and fiction. Viewers not interested in film as a meta-(self referential) text need not apply. After starting with the formal aspects of the JFK mystery, camera angles, do pictures lie, tampered

evidence and conflicting witnesses the film then seems to turn on the viewer so that we are put in the position of one of those unlucky witnesses who were

bribed, intimidated, bullied, framed or killed for seeing just a little too much. The performances are uniformly great, starting with the ballistics man who plays his part so straight I had to mentally check and remind myself this wasn't a

documentary. The ex-wife was brilliant. All the actors were just realistic to the point of surrealism. I'm now babbling, SEE THIS MOVIE

This film is amazing. 100% amazing. Everything about it is so real, all the little touches lead to it looking like a true documentary, and yet there are some great filmmaking techniques that are "happy accidents" that advance it as a dramatic story as well.

The lead actor is frighteningly good, as is the mostly off-camera actor playing Ron... very impressive and just downright astonishing.

Recommended easily, and its very rewatchable too. Hell, even some real documentaries don't hold up to repeated viewings like this mock-one does.