The
act of faking one’s death has become common enough to require its own term:
pseudocide. Initially, Claire Hunger merely assumes her missing husband is
laying injured somewhere. However, the more time we spend with the emotionally
stunted Hunger, the more we will be convinced Mr. Hunger bailed for the good of
his soul early in Annie J. Howell & Lisa Robinson’s Claire in Motion (trailer here) which opens
tomorrow in New York.
Paul
Hunger assures his wife he is over his dizzy spells, so he can safely go on his
extreme survivalist solo camping excursion. Umm, okay. Needless to say, Prof.
Hunger, the ornithologist, does not turn up when he is supposed to. The local
sheriff’s department scours the woods, but they only find his empty car. When
the authorities give him up for dead and/or gone, Prof. Hunger the
mathematician, refuses to give up dragging their son Connor into the woods on
their own private searches, until the lad finally refuses.
As
pessimism sets in, Math Hunger learns the first of several surprising
revelations. After doing a bit of feather consulting for the art department,
Bird Hunger started collaborating on a large-scale installation with Allison,
an attractive New Agey grad student. The fact they almost assuredly never
engaged in any hanky-panky maybe makes it an even greater betrayal. Suddenly,
Claire Hunger realizes she did not know her husband nearly as well as she
thought.
Even
though Claire is set in motion by a
mystery, the tone is much closer to Josephine Decker’s recent films than the
procedural series Without a Trace.
There are no ticking clocks in Howell & Robinson’s picture, but there is no
shortage of brooding and angst. There are a lot of very credible human emotions
in Motion, but they are portrayed in
a decidedly un-cinematic manner. If you put a stop-watch to the film, you would
probably find Claire Hunger spends more time staring out into space than
actually talking to people. Betsy Brandt’s lead performance is certainly
intense, but the titular Claire sort of functions as a black hole, sucking in all
the life and oxygen surrounding her.
Of
course, that makes Paul’s pseudo-betrayal with Allison entirely believable. As
Art Allison, Anna Margaret Hollyman is nearly Claire Hunger’s polar opposite.
She is also decidedly annoying, in her own distinct ways, but Hollyman
frequently infuses the film with much needed energy and a cutting edge.
