Film Reviews

Tape

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Ethan Hawke
• Details: US / 86 mins / (No Cert).

Richard Linklater's second film to be released in a few months, Tape is a low budget drama set in a single location (a hotel room) with only three actors. Ethan Hawke plays Vince, a low rent drug dealer who meets up with old high school friend, Johnny (Leonard) who is beginning to carve out a career in moviemaking. After a series of protracted moral arguments regarding their respective lifestyle choices, talk shifts to Amy (Thurman), a girl both men had flings with in high school. Although she was Vince's girlfriend for a period, at the end of high school, Johnny slept with Amy, which is something that always rankled Vince. After he persuades Johnny that the only reason Amy had sex with him was because he forced her, Vince reveals his trump card.
Essentially a savage treatise on the nature of competitive male friendship and egotism, Tape is a well acted and written drama. Due to the low budget nature of the proceedings, a lot depends on the three actors and they respond with virtuoso performances, which rank amongst the best of their careers. Tape's theatrical nature means it may not be for everyone, but this is an intelligent, constructive piece of filmmaking.

Review by Garreth Murphy