I'm surprised that this release has (so far) attracted far less comment than
The Man Who Fell to Earth. I happened to buy it for a song the day the news broke about the Criterion release, and it's a fascinating film.
It's a must-see for fans of Roeg, as it takes his fragmentary editing style to its limits (and possibly beyond). On that level,
Bad Timing is formally stunning, but it seemed to me on first viewing to be little more than a dazzling stylistic display. Unravelled, the story is a fairly unexciting "erotic thriller," and the fragmentary style does not add any kind of psychological dimension to the proceedings (we're not following the protagonist's agitated stream of consciousness, for example - at least, not consistently).
In fact, had the film been structured more conventionally (say, as a series of flashbacks occasioned by the police investigation) this would probably have been Roeg's drabbest film up to that point (I can't vouch for
Full Body Massage, but I can vouch for at least a couple of latter-day train wrecks). I missed the strong, consistently surprising visual sense apparent in all of his 70s films, and the acting is uneven, to put it kindly.
I though Keitel was alarmingly unengaging. Theresa Russell was energetic and impressive, if a little unfocussed at times, but Art Garfunkel's performance was intriguingly odd.
Buttery Jeb wrote:Personally, I thought this was a decent film, hampered by Art Garfunkel's non-existant charisma as an actor.
Buttery Jeb may have hit upon the key issue with this performance. It's hard to fault technically - he's generally nuanced and natural, and there are only a couple of scenes where you sense him straining at the leash of his limited technique - but he's just lacking some indefinable presence. Keitel sleepwalking holds your attention more effectively than Garfunkel delivering a decent performance in a much more interesting role. On the other hand, that weird passivity does suit the character, and does make the gulf between his personality and that of his lover's tangible. It also serves to make the climactic scene simultaneously far less credible and far more creepy.
But as an editing tour-de-force, don't miss it, and until Criterion gets around to releasing another colour Ozu, this film should keep those spot-the-red-object-in-every-shot addicts well occupied.
