Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 27-March-05
Spoiler Rating: Medium

Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)

If I were really, really rich, chances are I wouldn't like "Someone to Watch Over Me" nearly as much as I do. The movie deals with a wealthy New York socialite named Claire Gregory (Mimi Rogers) who witnesses a murder and is put under police protection until she can identify the killer. One of the cops assigned to guard her posh apartment and escort her to highbrow functions is Mike Keegan (Tom Berenger), a nice guy from Queens who becomes dazzled by Claire's fragile but rarefied beauty. It's not that Mike doesn't have his own treasures at home, with a spunky wife (Lorraine Bracco) and giggly son who adore him. It's just that, having never come in contact with Park Avenue, he has never built up an immunity to it, and it works on him like a virus as soon as he realizes that someone there could need him.

Falling between "Blade Runner" and "Thelma and Louise," "Someone to Watch Over Me" is one of Ridley Scott's most understated films and also one of his best. His success is largely atmospheric: using the glow of nighttime Manhattan and the allure of its stately pleasure domes, he compels the audience to experience the seduction of his protagonist. The opening scene contrasts social rituals on both sides of the tracks, but from then on the uptown life — with its marbled halls, classical music, and monochrome silk ties — seems to be closing in on the pleasures of the average man. Yet its power isn't absolute. Along with the elegance and admiration she commands, Claire projects a frailty that makes her a tad pathetic (seductive in itself, I suppose), not only because she's targeted for assassination but because she must rely on married, incompatible men like Mike and micromanaging dweebs like her boyfriend (John Rubinstein) for the comfort that money can't buy.

Since the drama in "Someone to Watch Over Me" stems less from shoot-outs and more from relationships, inviting the viewer to empathize with Mike's desire goes beyond a stylistic effect. This is the rare love triangle where everybody's motivations make perfect (i.e., perfectly human) sense, and the fact that one outcome is inevitable doesn't render the experience less painful or less interesting. There are no real bad guys here (excepting the killer, played by Andreas Katsulas). This is a story about worlds colliding, unlikely connections forming, and people trying to figure it all out. Well acted and gracefully presented, the movie makes you feel like you're part of the dilemma and not just watching over it.

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.