Look

There is a useful directness to Look, a comedy shaped by Adam Rifkin with a firm understanding of its audience. In Look, Jamie McShane provides the anchor while Spencer Redford introduces a contrasting energy. Without revealing later complications, Look opens from this situation: The lies, betrayal, and desires of nine different groups of people are revealed as they live out their secret lives in the sight of the security cameras that capture our every movement. The resulting its 1h 42m running time feels most convincing whenever Look trusts behaviour more than explanation.

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Rather than summarise every event in Look, it is enough to note how the central character places an important relationship under growing pressure. Jamie McShane gives that tension a face, which stops Look from becoming a mechanical sequence of developments. Adam Rifkin uses a difficult choice to widen the stakes of Look without losing sight of the original problem. Where the wider conflict becomes predictable, Look recovers interest through the consequences surrounding it.

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A close look at Look reveals how comic timing built around character carries information that the dialogue wisely leaves alone. Under the production banner of Captured Films, Look treats comic timing built around character as part of its storytelling grammar. Well judged reactions gives Look a stronger sense of place within its United States context. The technical departments of Look remain coordinated, so polish supports involvement instead of creating distance.

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The thematic thread that gives Look weight is embarrassment, status and the gap between confidence and reality. Jamie McShane grounds that thread so Look never has to choose completely between entertainment and reflection. A recurring focus on an important relationship gives the ideas in Look enough dramatic pressure to matter. Under Adam Rifkin, Look works best when viewers are invited to notice the theme before any character explains it.

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The directorial personality of Look comes from Adam Rifkin remaining alive in individual scenes and uncertain between them when the premise invites excess. Within Look, Adam Rifkin repeatedly favours readable choices over attention seeking flourishes. That discipline explains why the cast and craft keep the experience watchable in Look rather than appearing only in isolated scenes. Where Look becomes less convincing, too many scenes explain effects the actors have already suggested, and the loss of control is noticeable without becoming fatal.

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Performance is the clearest human asset in Look, beginning with the committed centre provided by Jamie McShane. Spencer Redford keeps Look from settling into one emotional register by approaching the material from another angle. The presence of Hayes MacArthur gives the surrounding world of Look additional texture without distracting from the main line. When Adam Rifkin holds on a reaction, Look communicates more efficiently than another explanatory exchange could manage.

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For comedy fans who respond to personality and timing, Look is ultimately an uneven film with enough personality to remain interesting. Its most persuasive combination in Look brings Jamie McShane together with well judged reactions under the direction of Adam Rifkin. The fact that too many scenes explain effects the actors have already suggested prevents Look from being entirely seamless. Even with that reservation, Look has a clear point of view and enough genuine feeling to justify the journey.