He saw them, and they hated him. The first recognition to the director and screenwriter John Waters came in 1990, when he shot a youth musical about the rebellious spirit of “Crying”, where the then still beginning actor with great potential Johnny Depp shone. However, for Waters, “Crying” became the eighth film in a row, where he acted as the main director, and if you consider that his first tape is dated 1969, then it took him neither more nor less than twenty years to achieve success. Then Waters followed four more pictures, including the film “Photographer”, released in 1998 on the screens, but they did not have such popularity as “Plasxa”. The best tapes in the “post-Plax” period at Waters were comedy thrillers “Mother-maniac-killer” and “Mad Cecil B.” (Melanie Griffith for her role in the latter received a nomination for the anti-award “Golden Raspberry”). What does this all say? And more this suggests not that Waters director is good, but not great, but that he is more close to author's projects, where he consistently demonstrates his view on what should be a movie.
No exception to the melodrama “Photographer”. Although, in fact, its original name "Pekker" due to the surname of the main character of the film, but our domestic viewer, such a name would not say anything, so everything is right, when our rolling title was exactly "Photographer", it is short and succinct means what the same Pecker does. A real young man works in a small diner, but his true calling is photography. He takes pictures of everything and everyone he sees, and few people resist being on Pecker’s tape. One beautiful day, the young man persuades his boss from the diner to arrange an exhibition for him and inadvertently there is one connoisseur of art - Rory Wheeler (Lily Taylor), who notes Pecker's unconditional talent and helps him show works in a real gallery. Pecker’s photos are a resounding success, he has a great future in art, but suddenly those who recently posed for the young man became alien to him, accusing him of a variety of actions, believing that Pecker had no right to expose them.
In fact, it’s hard to remember a similar movie, so we’ll pay tribute to John Waters for his originality. But it is quite another thing that the Photographer did not find a place in the wide box office, passing almost unnoticed. Even the fact that the main role in the film was played by Edward Furlong, who became famous after the second “Terminator” and “American History X”, did not bring much dividends to the “Photographer” became more attractive to the audience. And yet we cannot say that even in the expectation that this film is a genre of melodrama, it is devoid of dynamism. On the contrary, the action develops very quickly and practically does not stand still, but still at this time John Waters manages to make nuances when everyone recognized the former Pecker, and when he succeeded, it caused indignation among his recent friends, friends and even relatives. Although they can be understood: in his photos, Pecker unadorned exposed the inside of their lives, making it public. Hardly anyone would want his photo hanging in the gallery without the knowledge of who is depicted there, and even in an unsightly way.
As for acting, Edward Furlong confirmed by his embodiment of the image of Pecker that at one time he had great potential and could make his way into a great cinematic future. But as you know, problems with drugs and alcohol all the ambitions of the young actor were negated. In "The Photographer" he very convincingly and realistically shows a young man who turns his hobby into a job thanks to a real talent. Not everything he does is right, but in the end he demonstrates perfectly that he has taken all the mistakes into account and now he is the same wonderful Pecker - friend, lover and brother. By the way, Pecker’s passion was played by Christina Ricci, who embodied the image of a not quite balanced girl, but, apparently, this is what an independent photographer from the streets needed. Her constant scolding of sloppy people bringing laundry and clothes to the dry cleaners should be listened to. Although you will hardly want to return to such a girl-hostress, Christina Ricci once again proved that she can create completely different images. And good was Brendan Sexton III, who played a friend-thief Pecker.
Now we can confidently declare that the melodrama “The Photographer” has not found and will not find its audience among the masses, but rather will remain a good moment in the career of Edward Furlong and Christina Ricci, not bad, but not great. For a viewer who demands bread and spectacles from films, “The Photographer” will become a passing and unremarkable movie, which will quickly disappear from memory after watching. But still, for connoisseurs of independent and author’s cinema, I will recommend watching The Photographer due to its exclusive script and if the characters were more carefully and detailed in it, then you look and the tape would become more famous. But in any case, I repeat that “The Photographer” is not a bad movie.
6 out of 10