The Minus Man (R)

While slow, “The Minus Man” is one of the most interesting thrillers I’ve seen, and one of Owen Wilson’s best performances by far. The film is part thriller, part indie, part horror. An interesting mix, and Vann, the film’s enigmatic serial killer, is an interesting role choice for Wilson, released in 1999, a year after his appearance in the blockbuster “Armageddon.” “The Minus Man” has anything but the breakneck pace of that film, is in some places too long, but has a lasting impact. Not a film many have heard of, but one that successfully mixes the elements of a detective story with the perverse conscience of the criminal mind.

The film opens with a choice, not of right or wrong, but of which path to take. Vann, pulling off a highway shoulder, chooses right instead of left. And the results of this decision have far reaching effects. “If I had never come to this place, these people would be someplace else right now,” he narrates as the police lead a search for one of his victims. In this way, Vann’s narrations propel the film, not the voice of a man basking in his murder, but a man turning over rocks just to see what’s underneath. And how does he kill? In a very bizarre way, offering people sips out of a flask of Amaretto that has been laced with a rare fungal poison. You almost want to reach out as his victims take that fateful sip, but of course you can’t. “I’ve never done anything violent,” Vann narrates, “there’s no fear, no pain. They just go to sleep.”

One of the strong points of “The Minus Man” is that it doesn’t judge, but merely allows Vann to be an entry point into the lives of the people he meets. There’s Casper, played by singer Sheryl Crow, a junkie on a self-destructive path. And then there’s Jane and Doug, a long-married couple, from whom Vann rents a room in a coastal town in the western U.S. (we never learn exactly where). There’s a missing daughter, and Doug (played by the excellent Brian Cox) has an anger problem, even if it’s mostly turned inward. And then there’s his co-worker, Ferrin (Janeane Garafolo), who’s an alcoholic but still manages to hold down a job as a postal clerk. Of course she takes a liking to Vann immediately; new employees at rote jobs probably always attract interest.

The film’s characters are varied, and troubled, and for only a moment you sort of feel sorry for them, sort of feel that maybe Vann’s poison isn’t so bad. But by then the movie has you, has convinced you to follow its dream-like progression. This is furthered by Vann’s personal demons, played by two fictional detectives (Country star Dwight Yoakam and Dennis Haysbert), who probe him for clues to his motives in almost psychedelic fashion. “A spider once crawled in my ear,” Vann narrates to them, “but then crawled back out. Nobody home.”

The cinematography here is wonderful, expert, and pensive. Lingering cameras, focus on ordinary events, and pans from the ground up highlight the film’s darker moments. Under this runs Vann’s continuous narrations, which add to the film’s darkness. Alfred Hitchcock said that suspense comes from viewers having perspective on a film’s events that its characters do not, but yet are powerless to intervene. Vann’s a monster; make no mistake. But no one in his little world knows it. Maybe he doesn’t know it either.

And Director Hampton Fancher knows how to highlight the film’s more macabre moments. Looking at a police sketch of the poisoner, Vann mutters, “Kind of looks like me, doesn’t it?” The sketch looks sinister, but Vann does not. And a litany of red herrings, such as the quiet western town during Christmas season, and sandy beaches contrasted with cactuses and Christmas trees, further blurs the line between reality and fantasy. Vann’s lifestyle eats at him like the addictions that plague the film’s other characters, and addictions have only one probable course.

“The Minus Man” is too long, running at 111 minutes. But it’s a good film. I love the ending to this movie. If flies in the face of convention, as does an entire film that is more indie than horror thrillers are used to seeing. It’s creepy and unremorseful. It may not be standard horror fare but it gets under your skin. Wilson and the film’s cast are excellent, and the soundtrack is varied and morose. Curiously, the film was nominated for four awards, and won one at the Montreal World Festival. Watching the film, it’s not hard to understand the reason for that.

– by Mark Ziobro