She Becomes the Puppet Master
Tape surprised me when it turned out to be a psychological-game kind of film. I was expecting something dull and simple — instead I got an exciting story with tension bundling up with every minute, which doesn't stop until the very last moment. The way it is filmed reminds you more of amateur video than professional production, but that is exactly the point. With this trick, the viewer becomes a participant rather than an observer.
The story begins with only two characters — friends from high school, Vince (Ethan Hawke) and Jon (Robert Sean Leonard), whose paths cross again because of Jon's film premiere happening the next day. At first it seems that Vince came all the way from California to Michigan simply to support his friend. Yes, there are unresolved issues between them, but as it often happens — the time that has passed, and the familiarity that comes with knowing someone that long, outweighs the fact that you are now completely different people with nothing in common.
Everything changes when a seemingly silly conversation leads to a serious confession. A confession that Vince has just recorded on tape. We realise then that his agenda is something entirely different — he is less of a sociopath than we initially assumed, or perhaps more of one, and he has been following a precisely prepared scenario from the moment he arrived. The following scenes show a hopeless Jon trying to regain control of a situation, but he is back in high school now, and all his attempts are doomed. His rational approach is exactly what Vince predicted. The game continues.
The entry of Amy comes with even higher tension into the ready-to-blow-up motel room — because of the romantic and not-so-romantic history between her and both men.
The third chapter begins when the trio is finally complete. Vince, warmed up from his sparring with Jon, is absolutely confident in his position as the one holding all the cards. What a mistake. Both men — too busy focusing on themselves and their history — completely underestimate Amy, assistant of a district attorney. It takes her literally minutes to read the entire situation. Without either of them realising what has happened, she becomes the puppet master, and punishes each of them in exactly the way she sees fit.
Tape is a story about guilt, crime, punishment, selfishness, control, friendship, growing up — and refusing to. All in one small motel room, with three remarkable performances.
Tape covers an extraordinary amount of territory for a film with one location and three actors: guilt, crime, punishment, selfishness, control, friendship, growing up — and the particular difficulty of refusing to. Sexual consent. The blurring and crossing of lines. The performances are remarkable throughout, and Linklater's direction, so deliberately stripped back that it almost disappears, is the right and only approach. Definitely a film worth watching.