Private investigators are often sought out when people do not want the police to be involved. Finding people who want to remain missing is popular business for these detectives. Not every case is as cut and dry as it might seem, as presented in the Peter Daskaloff written and directed film, Clyde Cooper. Following a private detective in search of a missing love, Clyde Cooper will be available VOD on Thursday, November 22, 2018. So, how will it fare?
Featured at various film festivals prior to being picked up by Souvenir Films, Clyde Cooper (Jordi Vilasuso: The Invitation 2015, The Young and the the Restless series), the character, is a private investigator. His friend, Vincent (Richard Neil: Horizon Zero Dawn 2017, Prodigy 2017), asks for his help to track down a girl that he spent three days with. Vincent is convinced this girl is the love of his life. Cooper takes the case but promises nothing. Armed with just a picture, Cooper begins to search for the girl.
As his investigation continues, he runs across Loretta Berman (Abigail Titmuss: Days of Our Lives series, Do Elephants Pray? 2010), an individual who tries to stop him at every turn. She is hiding something, and Cooper must figure out what that is. Cooper is also being watched by Ruggero (Alexander Aguila: Shameless series, Borderline series), a hitman that refuses to say who he is working for. A string of stunning beauties and other odd folks litter his investigation.
All parties involved are looking for Nina (Aria Sirvaitis: Awkward 2015, Rosewood 2016). Where Nina is found, the equally beautiful Gaya (Isabella Racco: I Married a Czech Boy 2011, The Doll 2017) will also be. It appears that all of the secrets and money points to a possible prostitution ring funded by a silicon valley company. Or is it? What kind of case has Cooper taken on? How will he solve it and come out unscathed?
Clyde Cooper is filmed in the famed Film Noir style with a bit of an update. The film is entirely in color unlike the true black and white style. The central figure is a cool, non emotional private detective that takes a case that only leads deep into a weird, twisted rabbit hole. Mysterious, beautiful women and men in black suits toting guns only add to the madness. Low key Jazz plays as the soundtrack sometimes is overlaid with the brooding of Cooper’s own personal monologues. Cigars are replaced with plumes of vape and enter the world of technology and cell phones. It is an interesting juxtaposition of new and old; modern and what is quickly becoming ancient. The mix is a bit jarring because nothing really seems right, but it somehow works.
There always seem to be a type of disconnect with films made in this style. Characters are unemotional, which makes it difficult for the viewer to connect with them. Vilasuso’s Cooper is irreproachable to this extent. He plays the genre with expertise. Seemingly never blinking or reacting to the action or weirdness around him.
As a viewer you will not always have to connect to characters if the plot is solid enough to keep interest. In this case, the plot is so intent on throwing misdirection; adding several girls, the beautifully shot but odd piano staircase; in order to build up to the great reveal that it loses all credibility. The viewer loses the pleasure of learning the truth because by that point the viewer just wants the film to be over with. All the ends are tied up nice and neat at the end and the viewer will be satisfied with that aspect, but the question of whether or not everything in between was worth the ultimate answer will hang in the air.
The best line in the film is said by Cooper himself, “With cases like this, the truth fucks you.” It is probably the most honest phrase to describe this film. A good Thriller is always worth taking the time to watch. It needs to be engaging and allow the viewer to get sucked into the cryptic characters and messages blasted across the screen. Clyde Cooper, though at times successful, generally falls short at others. Feeling as though it drags on longer than the run time as each bit of information is given to the viewer, a Thriller it is not. It is for these reasons that Cryptic Rock gives Clyde Cooper 2.5 out of 5 stars.
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