David O'ConnellSuture
March 17th 2009 03:15
One of the most striking debuts in cinema history, Suture, released in 1993, is the work of co-directors David Siegel and Scott McGehee. From its film noir stylistics, shot in stark black and white, to its complex meditations on the nature of perception and identity, the film weaves its web in every spacious but meticulously composed frame.
Vincent Towers (Michael Lewis) is an aloof and wealthy man, whose father has just been murdered in an apparent robbery. He meets his brother Clay (Dennis Haysbert) at a Phoenix bus terminal and since the pair hasn’t seen one another for some time, it’s assumed they’re attempting to reconnect in the wake of this recent tragedy. There’s a nasty ulterior motive for Clay to worry about however: his brother is setting him up by faking his own death to escape the police who suspect him of the shooting.
Vincent and Clay comment on the eerie similarity in their appearances, and in their eyes and those of the world at large, they look like twins. Only we, in the audience, are in on Siegel and McGehee’s clever conceit: Vincent is white, and Clay is black.
When the bomb that was supposed to wipe Clay off the map only maims him, a period of recuperation begins. Disfigured and requiring plastic surgery, he's been stripped of all memory, but with the help of therapist, Dr. Shinoda (Sab Shimono), and an attentive surgeon, Renee Descartes (Mel Harris), he begins the process of rediscovering his elusive identity – or that of Vincent, who everyone supposes him to be!
This clever, deceptively complex film raises many fascinating questions about the intangible nature of identity and whether self-understanding ultimately excludes any notion of our physical appearance. Suture does a wonderful job of not only creating an artful, entertaining mystery but of blurring the lines that bind us to a true sense of self.
Slowly, Clay’s memory of the life attributed to Vincent is rebuilt in his mind piece by piece, but tiny fractured memories of his real past - through fragments in dreams and flashbacks - start resurfacing like parts of a coded puzzle to confuse his progress.
Will he assume the identity of his disappeared brother? Or was Clay really Vincent to begin with, a barely acknowledged part of himself that he tried to eradicate by killing himself but failing?
There’s a surreal, dreamlike film to Siegel and McGehee’s film, and their decision to shoot it in black and white enhances its cinematic virtues. The skill with which they build mystery and tension is complimented by the slow, methodical tracking camera movements, including some clever overhead shots (cinematographer Greg Gardiner deserving special mention); indeed static placements are rare but the sinuous texture of the film means that the economical execution never draws attention to itself as overly-arty pretension.
Working from their own screenplay the pair has conjured a mesmerising puzzle in which the division between black and white is an arbitrary one. Dennis Haysbert is fine as Clay, though this isn’t a stretch for any of the performers. Rather, the strength of Suture lies in its clever construction and the implementation of its intriguing ideas, none of which has been replicated in the directing pair’s subsequent three films, one of which is still awaiting release.
Vincent Towers (Michael Lewis) is an aloof and wealthy man, whose father has just been murdered in an apparent robbery. He meets his brother Clay (Dennis Haysbert) at a Phoenix bus terminal and since the pair hasn’t seen one another for some time, it’s assumed they’re attempting to reconnect in the wake of this recent tragedy. There’s a nasty ulterior motive for Clay to worry about however: his brother is setting him up by faking his own death to escape the police who suspect him of the shooting.
Vincent and Clay comment on the eerie similarity in their appearances, and in their eyes and those of the world at large, they look like twins. Only we, in the audience, are in on Siegel and McGehee’s clever conceit: Vincent is white, and Clay is black.
When the bomb that was supposed to wipe Clay off the map only maims him, a period of recuperation begins. Disfigured and requiring plastic surgery, he's been stripped of all memory, but with the help of therapist, Dr. Shinoda (Sab Shimono), and an attentive surgeon, Renee Descartes (Mel Harris), he begins the process of rediscovering his elusive identity – or that of Vincent, who everyone supposes him to be!
This clever, deceptively complex film raises many fascinating questions about the intangible nature of identity and whether self-understanding ultimately excludes any notion of our physical appearance. Suture does a wonderful job of not only creating an artful, entertaining mystery but of blurring the lines that bind us to a true sense of self.
Slowly, Clay’s memory of the life attributed to Vincent is rebuilt in his mind piece by piece, but tiny fractured memories of his real past - through fragments in dreams and flashbacks - start resurfacing like parts of a coded puzzle to confuse his progress.
Will he assume the identity of his disappeared brother? Or was Clay really Vincent to begin with, a barely acknowledged part of himself that he tried to eradicate by killing himself but failing?
There’s a surreal, dreamlike film to Siegel and McGehee’s film, and their decision to shoot it in black and white enhances its cinematic virtues. The skill with which they build mystery and tension is complimented by the slow, methodical tracking camera movements, including some clever overhead shots (cinematographer Greg Gardiner deserving special mention); indeed static placements are rare but the sinuous texture of the film means that the economical execution never draws attention to itself as overly-arty pretension.
Working from their own screenplay the pair has conjured a mesmerising puzzle in which the division between black and white is an arbitrary one. Dennis Haysbert is fine as Clay, though this isn’t a stretch for any of the performers. Rather, the strength of Suture lies in its clever construction and the implementation of its intriguing ideas, none of which has been replicated in the directing pair’s subsequent three films, one of which is still awaiting release.
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Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic