THE AMERICAN SIDE: NOIRISH MYSTERY

The genre known as “film noir” is probably as popular now as when it reached it’s heyday in the 40s and 50s. Described as films that were “marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace” the genre was best represented by films like DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE THIRD MAN and THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE. It almost always had a flawed hero who more often than not ran afoul of the law and in some instances lost not only the girl but his life as well. Attempts have been made to replicate the genre, some good and some bad. THE AMERICAN SIDE does a good job covering the style but at times gets too confusing for its own good.

Charlie Paczynski (Greg Stuhr who also helped write the screenplay), is a private eye in the Niagara Falls area who makes a living helping set up the spouses of his clients and then taking pictures he can use to blackmail them with. While never stated you get the impression this wasn’t always the way but what he has turned to in an effort to make a living now. With regular assistant Kat, a dancer at a local gentleman’s club, he gets the pictures he needs with ease. Until one night when he hears gunshots and sees the car she was in disappear.

Charlie then begins a search for Kat trying to find out what happened to her. As he does so he finds himself drawn into more than he bargained for. As he begins his search he’s hired by a woman named Nikki Meeker to find a missing person. Following leads from Kat’s last meeting he tracks down Tom Soberin (Harris Yulin), the man she was with only to find that the man is the missing person he was looking for. A brief meeting at the falls and minutes later Soberin is found dead.

Things get even more complicated when Charlie is approached by a young woman in a dark alley for help who claims to be Nikki Meeker. As if this weren’t confusing enough Charlie soon finds himself talking to a reclusive millionaire business partner (Robert Forster) who knew Soberin, a brother and sister pair (Matthew Broderick and Camilla Belle) who were his partners and interested in Soberin as well, learns more about what is really going on from the real Nikki Meeker and is approached by a strange government agent with ties to DARPA.

All of it revolves around a discovery made by Nikolas Tesla decades in the past, a discovery worth killing for. It seems that when Tesla died the FBI swept into his home and took away all of his documents and work that was left. With the exception of a missing notebook. Now a single page from that notebook is the main focus of every character in the movie. But all Charlie wants to do is find justice for Kat and stay alive at the same time.

Confused? Actually what you’ve read so far will make things clearer for you if you watch the movie. While watching it if you deviate from the film for just a moment odds are you’ll find yourself scratching your head wondering what happened and what is going on. Even odder is that while you’ll find yourself lost more than once in this movie it won’t make a difference. It still offers an entertaining film that is well made and gives you more story than any ten multi-million dollar films from the Hollywood factory. When it was over I found myself wondering what I had just watched while at the same time thinking maybe I’d like to watch it again.

The number of cameos in the film makes you believe that the actors involved at least thought they were making something good. In addition to those mentioned Robert Vaughan makes a brief appearance as Soberin’s neighbor and MURPHY BROWN’s Grant Shaud is a victim of Charlie’s that happens to be a scholar of all things Tesla whose help is quite handy. Then again maybe the names are bigger to me than many young people will recognize today. Stuhr does a great job in the lead, at times reminding me of films made by Burt Reynolds when he was much younger.

If you’re willing to take the time to watch and pay attention this movie mystery may be right up your alley. But don’t watch it while doing laundry, while the kids are running around the room screaming at each other or while painting your toenails. You have to stick with it. If you do you might find yourself enjoying the film and rediscovering a genre that isn’t replicated well very often.

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