Perfection

Rating: 10/10 (25 February 2007)

I don't know how many times I've watched this movie. Seven, at least. Probably once a year since it came out. The first time I saw it, I realized I had seen something profound... that's very, very rare. Not only is the story line engrossing, but so are all of the performances. There is not one weak link. But it is the dialog which drives the movie, as it should for people who want to think. No car chases, cats jumping out of closets, animated space ships with wooden characters or people riding brooms. Just words...words which lead to cataclysmic consequences for our protagonist. It's the way of the world. Words are what drive our lives in whatever direction we choose, if we're lucky or doom us if we're not. The wonderful irony of this movie, besides all its other attributes, is that Burnham is executed (for that's what it is) not for any of his foibles, nor his confronting his wife for her vapid existence or confronting her for her infidelity, nor for his romancing what surely must be an underage cheer leader, nor for the hatred professed by his daughter toward him, nor for blackmailing his employer... no he's killed because the father of the next door boy thinks he's gay and finally confronts his own homosexuality, makes advances to Burnham, is rebuffed and can't handle it.