90% Compliance

Despite a fantastic lead performance, COMPLIANCE, which sparked controversy at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, is a one-note trial to endure. Basically, the famous Milgram Experiments brought to life, COMPLIANCE is a real-time look at how far we're willing to go to please authority figures. When a fast food manager is asked by a calling police officer to detain one of her employees for a possible theft, things escalate quickly on the discomfort scale. Had the story developed further than just one long phone call, I would have liked it better, but as it is, it's completely monotonous. The officer keeps asking the fast food employees to detain, question, strip search, and more the seemingly innocent young woman, and everyone pretty much complies, because they don't want to look bad in the eyes of the law. This is a completely valid premise for a film, making us question our own naivete. But it just goes on and on, hitting the same drumbeat each and every time. Ann Dowd, however, deserves special mention for quite the bravura turn as the manager. A cog in the wheel who just wants to do the right thing, she's at turn needy, brazen, and heartbreaking. This veteran actor knows how to keep you riveted. I believed every second of her performance while not believing much of anything else, and this is a film based on true events! Most scenes drag on too long, especially a pointless, endless shot of a police officer driving to the scene in one, long extended take. WHY? WHY? WHY? I admire that this film wants to explore a vulnerable part of human behavior, but without much in the way of a story, this whole thing would have been better off as an article in Psychology Today. It's clearly intended to be a screw-turning, intense experience, but it's mostly sad and numbing.

August 28, 2012

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/compliance_2012/

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