WAZ
October 22nd 2008 04:33
Originally titled Devil’s Algebra, W DELTA Z (2007, or WAZ as it is most frequently called) is a nasty slap in the face. Director Tom Shankland and screenwriter Clive Bradley have made an intelligent and difficult movie with deep scars. If David Fincher had made one of the Saw movies, it would be like WAZ . Set in New York City, but with a European sensibility to the narrative, it is equally frustrating and satisfying.
Stellan Skarsgard as Eddie Argo
Melissa George as Helen Westcott
WAZ is one of the most unconventional “American” movies I’ve seen. A British film financed with Irish money. While the exteriors were shot in NYC, the interiors (police station, apartments, and a dingy warehouse space) were shot in Northern Ireland. The leads are all non-Americans, with the exception of Selma Blair (in an interesting against-type casting).
Selma Blair as Jean Lerner
Trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together
German poster
There is a revelation during the movie’s final ten or so minutes which takes the story in whole new direction, and then the movie collapses. It’s an intriguing denouement, not wholly successful, in that the character of Helen is left picking up the jagged, ruined pieces and one wonders if the audience were meant to have made some kind of empathetic connection with her earlier on. Both Eddie and Helen are troubled souls, but the screenplay doesn’t provide us with enough meat to chew down to the marrow of their individual plights.
Still, the movie does reflect the all too contradictory and obtuse nature of humanity with a unique and frightening level of conviction. It's a harrowing film to watch, but very well made. Director Shankland is definitely one to watch. It has been released on DVD in America through Dimension Extreme under the Hollywoodized title The Killing Gene.
Here's the trailer:
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