[yasr_overall_rating]
A veteran war photographer with PTSD sees imminent deaths in his developed photos, questioning his already fragile sanity and putting the lives of those he loves in danger.
Aaron B. Koontz’s “Camera Obscura” is admirable as an independent feature-length directorial debut, and while it may give lukewarm feels, it definitely lays out the potential for a future-something that will be much better. The film focuses on a veteran war photographer, Jack Zeller (Christopher Denham), who because of his experiences suffers from PTSD. His passion is photography but he hasn’t picked up a camera in quite a while, much to the dismay of his wife Claire, who feels that something must change. With delicate tones and an underlining force, she nudges Jack to start taking photos again, presenting him with a special camera that she hopes will ignite Jack’s passion once more. Little does she know, she’s set off a chain of events and may have tipped Jack’s fragile state of mind over the edge.
It’s apparent from the outset that something’s not right with Jack. It’s as if he’s a coasting shadow of a person, hidden away under layers of flesh, eyes dimmed, and limbs limp. His wife Claire decides to bid on a rare customized vintage camera from an estate auction as a gift for her husband and urges him to take a small photography job, in order to slowly re-immerse himself in the field. Hesitantly he accepts both the camera and job and is praised by his psychiatrist for doing so.
There’s a slowness to “Camera Obscura” in the beginning, a delicacy even, which you feel the intent is to provide an adequate amount of tension, but it’s barely viable. You feel the elements for the perfect buildup are there but can’t put your finger on why they aren’t working. You see Jack nervously take pictures of an area of buildings and land, moseying about until he’s satisfied. It’s not until he goes to get the film developed that things take an apparent left turn.
Jack’s film does some damage at the shop, and his pictures all come out in black and white for some unknown reason. It isn’t until he takes the pictures home, however, and browses through them to realize that something is terribly wrong. There’s a picture of a tragic event, one that he did not take, and it’s dated in advance by a day or so. This is the beginning of the end for Jack. And as Jack gets deeper into a string of deaths, it’s unclear whether it’s really happening of if Jack’s fragile state of mind is creating such a horrific “game.” Doesn’t matter if this photographic “Final Destination” style game is real or not because blood still stains the same way when you’ve whacked and hacked on somebody. Suffice it to say, things don’t end well.
While the first half is slow, the second half embarks on scenes of maniacal gore. “Camera Obscura” is caught between psychological thriller and slasher, which is fine (as the “Saw” franchise proves), but does so clumsily. It’s not calibrated correctly and the gore and atmosphere almost give way to a kitschy feel.
Also, the focus is primarily on Jack and his unraveling (fair enough but I want more). The most we know about the camera itself is that it is a special customized World War II era camera and that the previous owner apparently went more than a little “batty” too. I think the assumption here is we take the weight of the war and atrocities of WWII and apply it to the camera without explanation. Which is fine, but I would rather have a fuller origin story (I love origin stories), than simply assume or not question the camera’s inherent evil. But then again perhaps the goal is to focus on the sanity of Jack and not the camera, which may just be a fancy camera and nothing more.
There’s a lot of meat to this film, plenty of ideas to play around with. It was fun to watch. Christopher Denham does a solid job, as does everyone else. I think the pieces of the film just need to be sewn in a little tighter, neater. That said, I’m looking forward to seeing future work from Koontz.
In Theaters Friday, June 9th and on VOD & Digital HD Tuesday, June 13th
