Slipstream

Slipstream ***1/2

Directed by Anthony Hopkins
Written by Anthony Hopkins

Starring;
Anthony Hopkins As Felix Bonhoeffer
Camryn Manheim As Barbara
Lana Antonova As Lily
Fionnula Flanagan As Bette Lustig
Monica Garcia As Monica
Jennifer Anne Franklin As Shelly
Gavin Grazer As Gavin
Christopher Lawford As Lars
Jennifer Mann As Joanie
S. Epatha Merkerson As Bonnie
Christian Slater as Ray
Jeffrey Tambor as Geek / Jeffrey / Dr. Geekman

96 Minutes(Rated R for language and some violent images. )
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"Slipstream" was directed by Anthony Hopkins, and it certainly is the most unusual, experimental, and interesting films released probably since last year's David Lynch exercise, "Inland Empire." And its clear that Hopkins gets a strong influence from Lynch, using actors to pay several people, jumping in time, quick edits, odd voice overs. And yet I walked away from 'Slipstream" with a firmer grasp over what Hopkins was trying to say than I ever do from a Lynch film. Hopkins has created an interesting experiment-trying to tell the story of a man, a writer, on the verge of death, reflecting on his life, imagining people as characters in his screenplay, and then sometimes they are real people, and then sometimes they are closer to him than they are in reality, all leading up the end of the man's life-this isn't a spoiler, it's told in the first line of the film.

Hopkins plays Felix Bonhoeffer. In the beginning we learn that Felix is dead. He is a writer whose working on a screenplay about two gangsters-one played by Christian Slater and the other played by Jeffrey Tambor-who get involved in a diner robbery. In reality it turns out that Slater, a man named Matt Dobbs, has begun to take over the directing job from the actual director, a rather incompetent man who directs with a baby strapped on his stomach because his wife is suffering from post pardon depression. Then we get more involved with Felix-who sometimes has a wife named Gina (played by Hopkins actual wife), but she is also sometimes a character in the movie, and then sometimes the niece of a woman that he knows, depending on what is going on in his subconscious. And there is a certain amount of commentary on actors and their roles-Slater actually ends up dying from overacting at one point-and a segment involving some of the characters from Felix's screenplay end up in his hard drive, complaining about how Felix is killing them all off. A producer played by John Turturro is depicted as a loud mouthed angry and self-absorbed man, who plays, but hates, golf, and only seems to play because it seems to fit his job. He proclaims "I eat writers for breakfast!"

Am I doing a good job explaining the plot for "Slipstream?" Probably not. Why? Because this isn't so much a plot as it is a puzzle. We know that its about a man who is dying. As for the other characters and actors, you have to figure it out for yourself. It certainly is exhausting watching this film, but you don't walk out of it confused and puzzled about what you saw. You have a grasp on what is happening, although you should see it a couple of times. And even though I gave this the same rating as 'Inland Empire," I think that Hopkins was better at making a film about a man in a dreamlike state, if only because his film made me feel like it had a strong point, and it made me feel like I was watching something bigger than experimentation. Hopkins stated that he made this film "as a joke, just to have a good time," and it's clear that he did. The editing is wild and all over the place, and a scene where the continuity script girl is killed off and a parked car changes colors between shots was witty, and its clear that Hopkins was poking fun at the industry that he has been involved in for years. By the time the credits rolled, and as I went home, and even now, I like this movie more and more. I liked how it was daring and made sense at the same time. I liked how I was very involved at what was happening. I liked the sly jokes, and dialogue-especially references to "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," whose star is imagined by Felix to be driving down a road with him. I hope that Hopkins will make another movie one day, as "Slipstream" is an inspired and extremely enjoyable effort.

Now "Slipstream' is leaving New York tonight, from it's only theatre in the city, but hopefully any non-New York readers will be able to find it somewhere where they are in the upcoming weeks.