If it wasn’t for Leverage, Timothy Hutton would be a Broadway actor who dabbled in direct-to-video hell with an impressive pedigree. An Oscar and Golden Globe winner at the age of 20, Hutton’s career has been cursed by the “Oscar Jinx” significantly. A highly talented actor with a number of commercial and critical flops to his credit, Hutton has found a niche as a television actor on a successful show while managing to pick up indie roles when Leverage isn’t shooting. One of those is Reflections, which went direct to video in 2010 after being filmed three years prior and never released into theatres. And there’s a good reason why: it’s not very good.
Hutton stars as Tom, a Europol agent tasked with bringing down a serial killer they call Pygmalion. He likes to position his victims in different ways for viewing. When he gets a break in the case, Marco (Miguel Angel Silvestre) is presented as a prime suspect. Things go awry when it turns out that Marco is a cloned embryo of the killer 10 years younger than Pygmalion. Tom is left to study Marco to try and figure out Pygmalion, but things go awry when the killer discovers his twin brother and begins to stalk him as well. It all leads up to a violent conclusion with a twist ending to further muddle things up.
Following the usual indie crime film formula of bad acting, middling story development and boring characters, the film becomes an endurance test to watch and perhaps to star in. Hutton seems bored being in the film, as the material is beneath him as both an actor and as Academy Award winner, and seems to be content mailing in his performance. Even mailing it he seems more professional and polished than the rest of the cast, interestingly enough.
Reflections is a bad indie film that is more of an amusing watch than anything else.
For a film that was made for television and released direct to video it has an impressive transfer. It looks first rate and from a proper studio.
None.
If you’re a Tim Hutton fan, or have 91 minutes to kill, this isn’t a bad way to do it. Not a very good one, either, but it is perfectly acceptable garbage for one looking for it.
Morningstar presents Reflections . Directed by Bryan Goeres. Starring Timothy Hutton, Miguel Angel Silvestre, Fernando Guillen Cuervo, Tania Sarrias. Written by Jay Beattie based on story by Darby Parker. Running time 91 minutes. Not Rated. Released on DVD: April 27, 2010. Available at Amazon.com.
