Movie Review: Panic

Sometimes noir films are too slick, too glossy for their own good. They rely too much on convention, stock characters and the "glamor" of murder. On the other hand, there's writer and director Henry Bromell's superb Panic.

When Alex (William H. Macy) confesses to a shrink (John Ritter) that he kills people for a living, he honestly doesn't know why he's visiting a psychiatrist. To us, though, Alex's ennui is palpable; he looks as if he's among the walking dead. We see him kill a man in broad daylight and nod to his victim almost apologetically before throwing the gun away. An emotional cripple thanks to his domineering dad (played by Donald Sutherland as household evil personified), Alex can't get out of the "family business" or experience normal human joy.

But he's a good dad himself, and some of his sweetest moments are his bedtime exchanges with his 6-year-old son, Sammy (the precocious David Dorfman). As he lies in bed with his son, coaxing him to close his eyes, Alex is often off somewhere else. He is brought back only by Sammy stroking his hair, asking, "Dad, is everything OK? I'm worried about you."

A gifted character actor, Macy has been able to flex his chops as a member of David Mamet's crew, and in films like Fargo and Boogie Nights. But too often he's outfitted with a funny accent, a funny wardrobe or both. Here, Macy outshines himself as a washed-out, heartbreaking Everyman.

"He has beautiful, sad eyes," says Sarah (Neve Campbell), who shares a waiting room and romantic tension with Alex before their psychiatric sessions. Their frank, raw exchanges are just what Alex needs - some spark that he's missing in his day-to-day existence. Alex's wife (Tracey Ullman) also knows that something is wrong but isn't privy to her husband's "real" job. She's ill-equipped to fix what's broken - and her brave front falls when she and Alex are picking up Sammy's birthday present. The stronger of the pair, however, she is smart enough to pull Sammy away from his affectionate but verbally abusive grandfather, standing up to a figure Alex himself can't even face.

But when a "client" selects his psychiatrist for termination, Alex is forced to choose. Will he follows orders and kill his doctor? We can almost hear him scraping his fingernail against the gun's handle in his pocket.

That development, oddly, is not the center of the film; rather, it parallels the story of Alex's inner struggle, as he must choose between his immediate family and his mother, father and the family business.

Graced by bleak, stylized direction and an insightful ending that suggests that nothing ever really ends, this first feature film by Northern Exposure and Homicide writer and producer Bromell is a promising debut.