“Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” is the second film about a television star to come along recently. The other was Paul Schrader’s “Auto Focus,” released in October.
This film is based on the life of game show producer and host Chuck Barris. The catch is — and it’s no secret, given that movie trailers also reveal this information — Barris claims to have been a contracted hit man for the CIA while simultaneously producing shows such as “The Dating Game,” “The Newlywed Game” and “The Gong Show.”
The pairing here is George Clooney — in his feature film directorial debut — and Charlie Kaufman. There should be no qualms with calling these two individuals “artists.” Consider Clooney, with his previous acting work in “Solaris” and Kaufman’s screenplay for “Adaptation” — and it’s obvious that these two are involved with some of the more challenging work to come out of Hollywood these days.
A number of autobiography film conventions exist; “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” manages to avoid them all. However, Kaufman’s screenplay — based on Barris’ memoir of the same name — doesn’t mind toying with the audience’s expectations once in awhile. The strategy echoes of “Adaptation,” but is kept within a tighter structure. Like many films have in the past, “Confessions” plays with linear time conventions, starting toward the end and then moving back. This scene, which is first presented as the downfall for the Barris character in his hotel room, later turns out to be his redemption.
Kaufman’s screenplay also draws from sources other than Barris’s book — interviews, tape recordings, videos and so on. The result is a seamless blending of fiction and reality — Barris himself and other stars from his television shows appear as themselves in “documentary” style interview snippets.
The camera aesthetics in Clooney’s film lean toward the use of soft focus and backlighting. The multitude of locations — Mexico, Canada (doubling for Helsinki, Finland), and the United States — are captured with interesting camera angles. Some of them work, some of them don’t. Some of them smack of first-time directing. No matter, Clooney does a stellar job.
The casting of Sam Rockwell as Barris was an inspired choice — roles like these tend to end up in the hands of higher paid, more prolific movie stars — but Rockwell’s largely unfamiliar face aids the story’s sensibilities. Clooney casts himself as Jim Byrd, Barris’s CIA mentor. Julia Roberts is here, as a CIA, Friedrich Nietzsche-quoting spy. Drew Barrymore rounds off the bunch as Barris’ die-hard girlfriend, Penny.