The Myth of Fingerprints: A Touchy Film

Reviewed by Vickie, Cinema Geek

Vick's Rating:

= There's two hours of my life I'll never see again. Is it too late to ask for my money back?
= They could have done SO much better. Wait for the video.
= Not bad at all. Some solid work.
= Wow! I'm very impressed. I might go see this one again.
= For the love of all that is good and kind in the world, what an amazing movie!!!

Directed by Bart Freundlich

Cast (in credits order):
Arija Bareikis.... Daphne
Blythe Danner.... Lena
Hope Davis.... Margaret
Laurel Holloman.... Leigh
Brian Kerwin.... Elliot
James LeGros.... Cezanne
Julianne Moore.... Mia
Roy Scheider.... Hal
Michael Vartan.... Jake
Noah Wyle.... Warren

Photo by Bill Foley, copyright 1997, Sony Pictures

Movies are like paintings. Sometimes, they're carefully constructed compositions with clearly defined shapes and colors and images. Other times, they're messy arrangements seemingly devoid of reason, difficult to understand or interpret. Somewhere in the middle lies "The Myth of Fingerprints."

From the mind of writer-director Bart Freundlich comes this slice-of-life comedy-drama about a dysfunctional family that reunites for the grandest of dysfunctional holidays: Thanksgiving. It examines what happens when a group of people who all have vastly different personalities and opinions gather under one roof...somewhere none of them really want to be in the first place.

The members of the family include many stock characters: the devoted mother, the gruff father, the troubled son, the lost love, the bitter sister...the list goes on. But rather than having their roles become been-there-seen- that cliches, the actors turn what could have easily become caricatures into characters. Noah Wyle (of "ER" fame) and Julianne Moore (last seen in "The Lost World") are the siblings whose stories get the most screen time. He's Warren, a hopelessly sad sack who left home for reasons unclear at the outset of the film and who returns for the first time in three years. She's Mia, a bitter gallery owner (and Warren's older sister) who seems extremely unhappy with her job, her boyfriend and her life, in general. Their stories are the most complex and engaging of the lot and, as a result, their performances offer the most among the large and equally talented cast. Both are gloomy with moments of levity. Both tug at the heartstrings and induce belly laughs. Both are basically, really, really good.

Photo by Bill Foley, copyright 1997, Sony Pictures

Mind you, the rest of the cast are no slouches. Blythe Danner and Roy Scheider head the family. The siblings, and their significant others, come to life in the capable hands of Hope Davis ("The Daytrippers"), Brian Kerwin, newcomer Arija Bareikis and indie veteran James LeGros, among others. Some of them may be sketchy, but all are unique and, even with limited screen time, memorable.

Now, having said all that, "The Myth of Fingerprints" won't be everyone's cup of tea. It is a very vague film. Nothing is clear. There is often no apparent rhyme or reason for what people do, say or think. But that's what it's supposed to be like and, in this case, that's okay. The movie literally drops the audience into an existing drama. The stories began long before the first few frames of the movie, and they will end long after the closing credits roll. What you're seeing is part of a life--a fragment of time in the lives of these characters. It's like meeting someone for the first time and immediately being ushered in to their family's Thanksgiving dinner, completely unaware of the skeletons in the family closet, the nuances of its members or the life-altering moments that may have occurred just seconds before you walked into the room. For some, this type of thing will be unsettling. In the world of Hollywood and high-concept moviemaking, people have become used to clearcut storylines that move from point A to point B in a straight, easy-to-follow path that doesn't waver. Audiences have come to expect cardboard cutout characters, predictable plot developments and above all, a nice happy ending. "The Myth of Fingerprints" has few, if any, of these things. And that's why I liked it.

Bart Freundlich has made a film that requires you to pay attention. There are brilliant moments in this movie, but they are so subtle you might miss them if you're not careful. (A discussion about mustard, for example, spirals into a comedic flurry of criss-crossed conversations.) It does drag from time to time, and frustrated filmgoers might take issue with some of the stories that are left hanging. In fact, some audience members' reactions are parallelled in a subplot used in the film wherein Mia decides to read an old book that's been sitting on her parents' bookshelf for (presumably) years. To her horror, and after having spent the entire day reading, she realizes that someone has torn out the last few pages of the book. Furious, she embarks on a search to find either a copy of the book so she can find out what happens to the characters, or someone else who's read the book so they can tell her how it ends. That type of search for answers may occur with some moviegoers, furious or not. But maybe that search for answers isn't such a bad thing.

Overall and to reiterate the painting metaphor, everything is left up to the individual's interpretation. Why did Warren do that? Why is Mia so bitter? Why? Why? Why? You will ask yourself these questions both during the course of the film, and afterwards. You're meant to. And even if you come up with satisfactory answers that you think explain things for you, the person in the next seat might have a completely different understanding of what you both witnessed.

And, I suppose, that's what great art is. Isn't it?

Vickie, a self-confessed movie addict, has spent the last few years working at an entertainment magazine in Canada. When she's not toiling away at her computer in the office, she's toiling away at her computer at home-- hacking away at unfinished screenplays and planning her acceptance speech for the Academy Awards.