by Billy Newbery
There is something dark and oozing, wheezing through poxed lungs, under harsh merciless lights, with a crown and a crowd, beckoning you forward, whispering in silky screams, it reads your fortune. You are worthy of the stars, of the heavens, your name shall be sung in glory on high, a conquering hero, you are mightier than any one could possibly understand, the blind fools don’t see it yet but they will, you are more than they ever could be.
Primetime is not strictly a biopic and is at its best when it’s less concerned with the story and facts of these characters’ lives and instead focusing on what is essentially an insightful and modern retelling of the classic mythological tale of ego and hubris. Here the life of Chris Hanson becomes a tale of a rotting Icarus or Frankenstein without genius. It’s a film whose concerns and fascinations lay ambitiously beyond the genre of the biopic and its sometimes pedestrian script. Only soaring to truly grand heights in moments of silence and pure cinematic grammar, where it manages to draw you into the darkness, making you understand that darkness completely. Luring you into those festering places within yourself that you’d rather ignore.
At times Primetime manages to create these incredible moments which have you laughing out loud, while simultaneously revealing a deep tragic truth, pulling off a tightrope act I have seldom ever seen, saying more about these characters in a brief moment, then most films manage in their entire runtime. Patterson’s performance in these moments is so incredibly layered, heightened and bewilderingly revealing, that he becomes more than just the character but a stand in for something far more vital, becoming a primordial sort of figure speaking to something deeper than a man who was once on TV.
Yet Primetime somehow leaves you let down and frustrated. Never quite reaching the heights which individual moments seem to promise, at times feeling so dull and literal, bound too closely to its often limiting script which is concerned more with the story of Hanson then the myth that is being spun by all other departments. It’s a film that has so much sparkling brilliance from the performances, to the sharp editing, to the incredible score which transforms the film’s images into something even more powerful than they already were, and yet I feel it had more to offer.
Even though the black wax wings of Primetime seem to melt before it reaches the sun the attempt is truly magnificent to behold.