Photo: Greg Kinnear as Bob Crane in Paul Schrader's Auto Focus
Bob Crane, star of the '60s sitcom Hogan's Heroes, was murdered in a Scottsdale, Arizona motel room in 1978. The prime suspect was his best friend John Carpenter (not that John Carpenter, but a seedy video technician who introduced Crane to a world of sex, lies, and videotape). As portrayed in Paul Schrader's fascinating Auto Focus (adapted from Robert Graysmith's book The Murder of Bob Crane), Crane (Greg Kinnear) is less a sleaze ball than a mythic figure embarrassingly oblivious to just how close he was walking to the edge. Schrader's approach to the seedy material is unusually gentle, which makes for a particularly uncomfortable viewing experience. Crane so unconsciously removes himself from the occasion of sin that his curiosity for sex is every bit as evolving as the advent of video technology. It's here that that the beauty of the film's title deserves mentioning: If Crane is out of focus, then Carpenter (Willem Dafoe) is pulling that focus (his color-blindness signals his demise just as black-and-white television is on its way out).
Bob Crane, star of the '60s sitcom Hogan's Heroes, was murdered in a Scottsdale, Arizona motel room in 1978. The prime suspect was his best friend John Carpenter (not that John Carpenter, but a seedy video technician who introduced Crane to a world of sex, lies, and videotape). As portrayed in Paul Schrader's fascinating Auto Focus (adapted from Robert Graysmith's book The Murder of Bob Crane), Crane (Greg Kinnear) is less a sleaze ball than a mythic figure embarrassingly oblivious to just how close he was walking to the edge. Schrader's approach to the seedy material is unusually gentle, which makes for a particularly uncomfortable viewing experience. Crane so unconsciously removes himself from the occasion of sin that his curiosity for sex is every bit as evolving as the advent of video technology. It's here that that the beauty of the film's title deserves mentioning: If Crane is out of focus, then Carpenter (Willem Dafoe) is pulling that focus (his color-blindness signals his demise just as black-and-white television is on its way out).
