Clean, Shaven (Criterion Collection)

Clean, Shaven (Lodge Kerrigan, 1994)

Kerrigan, since this debut film, has gone on to work with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Which should give most aspiring filmmakers hope, because after watching Clean, Shaven, someone obviously saw through the film's glaring problems to get at the potential that equally obviously exists underneath. You're not going to find it here, though.

Peter Winter (Peter Greene, from The Usual Suspects, Judgment Night, Pulp Fiction, etc.) is not a very nice guy. He also happens to be severely mentally ill; nothing is ever said about what it is he's got, though it becomes quickly obvious that schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder are two of his major problems. Upon his release from a mental institution (which you will only know if you read the box description), he finds that his wife has left him and put his daughter up for adoption (which is revealed very far into the film, but you will know if you read the box description). While he searches for his daughter, a police officer, Jack McNally (Robert Albert), is trying to tie Winter to a series of murders that seem to happen whenever he's around.

After reading that plot synopsis, one thing should be very clear: if you don't read the box description, you will have no earthly idea what's going on in this movie. Sometimes that works very well (like in Memento). Sometimes it acts to the film's great detriment. Someone should have given Kerrigan a kick in the continuity a few times while he was making this film; too much of it doesn't add up until the final few scenes, and by that time, it's far too late. Greene's performance is almost painful to watch, but everything going on around him plays second fiddle; thus, the movie seems like a too-long character sketch into which a plot was thrown as an afterthought. Greene's performance alone isn't enough to carry the weight. **

Clean, Shaven is an account of a schizophrenic man's (Peter) attempts to find and reclaim his daughter, who has apparently been placed up for adoption by relatives while Peter was incarcerated in a mental hospital. The stylistic tics director Lodge Kerrigan uses to provide insight into the mind of a schizophrenic -- short sequences where the camera is aimed at something quiet and banal (like the view from a moving car), accompanied by nonsensical (?) radio-staticky voiceovers -- also succeed in creating some slight tension. That said, these scenes are plentiful and while interesting, can't provide any real narrative pull for the viewer to get caught up in. However, the film's real weakness is that it wants to be both a snapshot of life as a deranged person and a deft psychological thriller -- a tough combination to pull off. The motivations for Peter's behavior are left ambiguous (in an attempt to mask a would-be twist ending); leaving Peter a difficult character to empathize with. The story wanders along until a detective begins seeking Peter for reasons related to a series of child murders. The detective also behaves very erratically (he has emotional outbursts alone in his car; he seeks sex with a woman related to the case; and he employs an incoherent logic in pursuing Peter -- it seems impossible that the clues shown would lead the detective to Peter's location). At times it's difficult to remember which of the two characters is supposed to be the crazy one. Throw in a lusty librarian and several scenes of graphic mutilation and you end up with ... well, with very little. Here is a movie that ends up being less than the sum of its parts -- and its parts weren't all that thrilling to begin with.

I must say, after working with chronically mentally ill individuals for years, this movie really does depict what I would consider to be schizophrenia. Peter Winter is absolutely amazing in this movie: his movements, his speech, his mannerisms, and his hallucinations are very good as far as showing us what a chronic patient suffers. As a veiwer, I found myself really empathizing with the character, and truly understanding what it must be like to have such a condition. For that part of the movie, "Clean Shaven" was remarkable, and the character was excellent. The mother of this character was also very good in the movie.

As for the rest of the movie, I have to say that it did not hold up to Peter Winter's performance. The plot was flimsy and it never really went anywhere. The acting by the librarian had to be the worst I have ever witnessed, and I almost found it laughable. As for Lodge Kerrigan's character, I never really understood what his motivation was half the time, didn't know what he was doing, and I was often left thinking, "so what...." Why did he sleep with the woman? How did he find Peter at the beach? What was the robbery scene all about?

The movie was a good examination of "getting inside" someone suffering with schizophrenia, some nice cinematography, and very accurate in its views on society's prejudices and fears about mental illness. The minimal script and conversation seemed forced and canned at times, not really leaving a good impression. I liked the movie, but Peter Winter was the reason for that.