Movie Review: Anamorph

Starring Willem Defoe as one weird obsessive-compulsive detective, Anamorph almost gets it right. A serial killer who deals in setting up scenes of forced perspective may or may not be the same killer Defoe's character thought he'd helped kill a few years back. Each new staged murder is more horrific and artful than the last. Defoe is quite good as the detective. The cinematography is outstanding. The tension keeps building. And then, and then......we get the same-old same-old crapola. Defoe races to save someone...but doesn't call for back-up. Final confrontations seem pulled out of any old noir movie. All of the careful set-up disintegrates into normalcy. While I recommend the movie marginally, it becomes a true triumph of style over substance by the final frame--unfortunately, because there is some real directorial talent behind this movie.