“Auto Focus,” is about sex, sex and more sex — so much sex that by the time the R-rated film’s 107 minute running time has expired, the subject has the potential to nauseate the viewer.
So is this a cautionary tale? The story may be familiar to some because it comes from the pages of real life — or rather, a book based on real life. “Auto Focus” is based on the book “The Murder of Bob Crane” by Robert Graysmith. It’s about Bob Crane, actor and star of “Hogan’s Heroes,” and his sexaholic tendencies. Given that I haven’t read the book myself, I can’t comment on how accurately it follows the text, but the fact that the film is titled otherwise makes me think it’s only loosely construed (although the book itself has apparently been re-titled to coincide with the release of the film).
The question of what is fact and what is fiction is particularly poignant, as there is a legal dispute currently happening between two of Crane’s sons over the accuracy of the biopic.
Bob Crane is played by Greg Kinnear, who gives the acting performance of his career. It’s not that Kinnear is a bad actor, but he usually ends up in subpar films. Here, he gives an intricate and subtle performance as a man lacking awareness, operating on a kind of inertia. Going from one woman to the next, one acting job to the next, he consumes sex as an inexhaustible commodity.
However, Willem Dafoe is no less effective as John Carpenter, Crane’s friend, part-manager and video specialist. Throughout the story, the Carpenter character acts as a catalyst and affirmation for Crane, validating and supporting his actions. As indicated toward the end of the film, Crane detaches from Carpenter and attempts to turn a new leaf, quit sex and restart his career.
One would expect drugs or alcohol to be mingled into the two’s sexual escapades, but they aren’t particularly prevalent at all. This was, perhaps, a conscious choice of the filmmaker to accentuate the sexual addiction of the Crane and Carpenter characters.
The director, Paul Schrader, who has hovered around the subject matter of sex before — at the helm of “American Gigolo,” the under-rated remake of “Cat People,” and as writer of “Taxi Driver” — presents his film’s subject matter in a contradictory manner. It’s presented in such a terse and callous way that as the film progresses, the nudity itself becomes mundane and uninteresting. This is matched by the “porn” aesthetic the film uses. Low lights, close-ups and an attention to detail regarding wardrobe.
This isn’t a constant aesthetic. The beginning of the film is decidedly sunnier, almost representing nuclear family ideals of the 1950s (even though the film begins in the early 60s), especially in the scenes at home with Crane’s first wife, Anne (Rita Wilson). Later on, the camera angles become more claustrophobic as Crane begins his downfall.
The title sequence — full of 1960s imagery — and poster art for the film are particularly notable as well. Music by Angelo Badalamenti (who has scored “Twin Peaks” among countless other films) is subtle, but works.
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