October
3, 2003, release date
Directed
by Carl Franklin
Screenplay
by David Collard
Music by
Graeme Revell
Edited by
Carole Kravetz
Cinematography
by Theo van de Sande
Denzel Washington as Matthias Lee
Whitlock
Eva Mendes as Alex Diaz-Whitlock
Sanaa Lathan as Ann Merai Harrison
Dean Cain as Chris Harrison
John Billingsley as Chae, medical
examiner
Robert Baker as Tony Dalton
Alex Carter as Paul Cabot
Antoni Corone as Deputy Baste
Terry Loughlin as Agent Stark
Nora Dunn as Dr. Donovan
James Murtaugh as Dr. Frieland
O. L. Duke as Detective Bronze
Tom Hillmann as Robert Guillette,
Living Gift salesperson
Produced
by Original Film
Distributed
by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
DVD
distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment
It’s hard to
believe that Out of Time was released
thirteen years ago. I think the story and the emphasis on the characters make
the film timeless. (And I know there’s a pun to be made because of the film’s
title but I’m not going to do it!) It’s always fun to watch Denzel Washington,
and his performance in Out of Time
does not disappoint. The director
Carl Franklin provides commentary on the DVD, and he describes the story as
lighthearted, but I think the film has many noir elements. It starts out
lighthearted, then the tone slowly
and successfully dissolves into one of tension and unease. So there are many
great reasons to see this film.
Police
chief Matthias (Matt) Whitlock is having an affair with Ann Merai Harrison. He
is separated, but not yet divorced, from his wife Alex, who has just been
promoted to detective. Ann Merai is married to Chris, and she tells Matt that
Chris beats her. So when the tension in the film comes in the form of Chris’s
threatening presence, it is completely believable. The story is told from Matt
Whitlock’s perspective, and viewers can sympathize with his level of concern. And
then Chris and Matt trade not-so-veiled threats twice: at the Harrison house
and then later at a local bar.
(This
blog post about Out of Time contains
spoilers.)
Not too
long after the exchange between Chris and Matt, the Harrison house goes up in
flames. The two bodies discovered in the charred remains are identified as the
Harrisons, and the fire is labeled arson. The money that Matt took from the
evidence locker and gave to Ann (because she needs alternative cancer treatment
in Switzerland) is missing, although he and viewers don’t know if it was also
lost in the fire. Now that the two bodies represent two homicides, Matt’s wife
Alex, now a detective, is working the case. The police chief is in the
predicament of having to stay one step ahead of his wife’s professional and
competent murder investigation and federal agents’ search for the money, which—it
turns out—they need for their own case.
Even
though Out of Time includes a good
bit of humor and romance (some of the tension comes from the dynamic between
Matt and Alex), and a fantastic Latin jazz score, the tension surrounding the
murder investigation builds slowly and steadily. Viewers can root for Matt. He’s
a character in a typical film noir situation: He makes one bad decision, out of
compassion, and he is caught in the ensuing complications that escalate until
his guilt looks certain—and certain to be discovered. After his one bad
decision, fate takes over, and Matt has to scramble to fix the repercussions of
his theft from the evidence locker.
The
director Carl Franklin, in his audio commentary on the DVD, talks about the
heat, tropical colors, and tropical downpours: the setting and the Florida
weather are characters in the film. The heat and sultry night scenes give the
romance scenes and the tension an added urgency, and heat—day or night—is a
feature of many neo-noirs. When heat is a feature of a neo-noir, I call it film
brûlant (“burning film”). As the plot unfolds in Out of Time, viewers learn that deceit, greed, and betrayal are
also factors in the story, and all these factors are evidence, for me, that Out of Time is a neo-noir.
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