Sometimes, the A24 method works. And when it does, it WORKS.
Submitted for your perusal: Primetime.
The hype around this film was palpable with not only the studio’s marketing machine but also with the word of the rise and fall of To Catch a Predator and its captain in Chris Hansen being done in an amazing way. Even the casting of Robert Pattinson as Hansen had people talking as to whether or not he could capture the essence of the man who marked a huge turn for night time viewing nationwide. (Hansen wanted Denis Leary to play him, and that is a completely different set of questions.)
Director Lance Oppenheim could be on the verge of a one-two punch with this and the upcoming documentary You Can See Everything (also getting a LOT of hype based on the trailer release alone) takes on this subject matter based on the 2007 Esquire article by Like Dittrich called “Tonight on Dateline, This Man Will Die” with a no-holds barred style that this story requires. Shot in the old school “flat” aspect ratio to mimic an older model television and a grain that at time resembles a home video release to capture its time frame. His use of tight shots on the characters as they converse is used in the just right amount to make what is already an uncomfortable subject matter put me unapologetically right in the middle of everything going on. Alongside a minimal score by Ari Balouzian (a multiple-time collaborator with Oppenheim who also worked on the new HBO docuseries Monsters of God) that shows itself at the exact moments it needs to and is not overused at all, the creep factor is on full steam ahead from the first moment of this film.
The script itself is so richly written by Ajon Singh in his first outing (he will also be co-writing the upcoming Spider-Punk) that one of my biggest concerns going into Primetime did not find itself coming to fruition. Given the nature of To Catch a Predator dealing with those who would try to have inappropriate relations with minors, it would be easy to rely on those scenes depicted in the series alone to carry its shock value and impact, but there are only truly four times over the almost two-hour run time that a specific case is depicted. (A word of warning: one of them portrays graphic nudity and is portrayed by an actor that when I realized who it was took me back by itself.) Singh truly relies on the source material itself to let the show take a bit of a back seat to the characters that are at the heart of its story.
And speaking of those characters, the biggest thing to me here is this cast. Going in, I was truly expecting this to be either about the show itself of Hansen’s obsessions, but this is truly an ensemble film. As good as Pattinson is (and trust me, he IS that good with a performance that nails Hansen’s voice, cadence, and dynamics in a way that takes over the performance in a way that completely transcends any need for a physical transformation), he is complemented by everyone involved. Marritt Weaver (Christy and The Gilded Age) absolutely shines as his producer, Andie Bender, whose character arc fits the larger story to a tee, while Matthew Maher (who could be one of the most underrated actors of the last decade) plays Xavier Von Erck, an activist whose obsession that feeds the series makes things unstable when going unchecked is spot on. Add to that singer/actor Phoebe Bridgers as Del, who rounds out this group as the “decoy” that meets the perpetrators before Hansen intervenes, and that is explosive enough.
Then, you have Skyler Gisondo.
With a career that spans almost twenty-five years now but really only catching the public eye in the last five, it is great to see this incredibly talented young man getting the chance to shine, even in a film that casts him as Dan Plumb, a struggling actor who is brought in as another decoy who doesn’t realize he is in a sink-or-swim situation until he is knee-deep in it. He shows an evolution on screen that could be unmatched in this year’s offerings of film that may not be able to be reached. To try and pick one or two members of this cast that could get recognized for their performance in Primetime would be tough to narrow down, but Gisondo HAS to be one of them. Thankfully, the North Texas Film Critics Association has a Best Ensemble Award so I can give this film the recognition that it deserves.
Although its subject matter is not one that may are comfortable watching unfold on screen, Primetime is a film that deserves to be seen in any way possible from a presentation standpoint alone. This will be one that will be coming up in a number of awards conversations just around the corner, and rightfully so.