Susan Granger’s review of “Slipstream” (Strand Releasing)
Considering that the dictionary defines slip stream as “the current of air thrust backward by the spinning propeller or an aircraft,” Anthony Hopkins has creatively transposed this aeronautical concept into an avante-garde, admittedly experimental, absurdist through-the-looking-glass glimpse of behind-the-scenes movie-making.
Evolving in a non-linear fantasy is the convoluted tale of a clearly unstable Hollywood screenwriter Felix Bonhoeffler (Anthony Hopkins), who is working on a murder mystery that’s being filmed in the California desert. Whirling in and out of his conscious and sub-conscious mind are his wife, Gina (played by Hopkins’ real-life wife, Stella Arroyave, making her screen debut); an aspiring blonde actress (Lisa Pepper); loquacious Aunt Bette (Fionnula Flanagan); a perplexed, baby-toting film director (Gavin Grazer); caustic cinematographer (Chris Lawford); obnoxious producer named Harvey Brickman (John Turturro); several long-suffering, somewhat maniacal actors (Christian Slater, Jeffrey Tambor, Michael Clarke Duncan, Camryn Manheim, S. Epatha Merkerson) and – miracle of miracles! – 93 year-old Kevin McCarthy recalling “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”). There’s also an amusing Dolly Parton look-alike (Charlene Rose), talking buzzard and furry tarantula.
Structurally reminiscent of Christopher Nolan’s non-linear, dream-like “Memento” with a dab of David Lynch thrown in, it’s written and directed by Anthony Hopkins (Oscar-winner for “The Silence of the Lambs”), who also composed the musical score. Working with cinematographer Dante Spinotti and film editor Michael E. Miller, Hopkins utilizes a visual cacophony of rapid cuts, old movie clips, stock footage and color film stock changes, often punctuated with seemingly random, out-of-context sound bites.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Slipstream” is a stream-of-consciousness, playfully surreal, satirical 7. As Hopkins notes, it’s the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party – and be sure to stay for the somewhat explanatory epilogue that occurs after the credits.
