Culture Watch: Plainclothes
Russell Tovey and Tom Blyth struggle with fear and shame in the 90s.
Written and directed by Carmen Emmi, Plainclothes gives us the story of Lucas (Tom Blyth).
Lucas is a police officer, working undercover to entrap men cruising for sex in public toilets. The trouble is, Lucas is a closeted gay man and he falls for one of the guys he meets while undercover.
This is Carmen Emmi's first feature-length film and its an interesting project.
Emmi is from New York and it feels like he's drawing on his lived experience for some of the flavour around the family of Lucas.
Extensive use of home-movie style footage helps to establish the time and place of suburban New York in the 90s. Lucas is the beloved son of a volatile but affectionate Italian family.
The narrative is effectively split into two interwoven timelines that culminate in the final melodramatic scene.
The closeted man that Lucas meets is played by Russell Tovey and it's a strong performance although not a huge stretch for an actor of Tovey's calibre.
As Lucas, Tom Blyth has a lot more to work with. There's anxiety, there's nervous tics, there's inner turmoil and conflict, there's moments of realisation and longing. He's not an actor that's really been on my radar before - he's very watchable.
It's interesting that Emmi cast two English actors to play these American characters.
The film is effectively a character study of Lucas - a young, closeted man, figuring out his sexuality and trying to overcome the barriers he's facing in order to become a more authentic version of himself.
The challenge with that is that the storytelling holds the audience at arm's-length - we're not drawn into the turmoil that Lucas is struggling with, we're observing everything and not given an opportunity to build empathy with him.
Part of the reason for that is that this is a period piece. Emmi uses a range of visual cues and exposition to anchor this story in the 90s but it's never really clear why this story needs to be told. Why do we care about Lucas and the world that he inhabits? Where are the emotional stakes for the viewer?
Overall, it's a solid watch but it's not going to change your life.
