'Plainclothes' review: Tom Blyth leads Russell Tovey up the garden path

Magnolia Pictures

Are you a top or a cop? That truly is one of the questions of all time. Plainclothes, written and directed by Carmen Emmi, is the one asking this very question as it dares to go to a place few are willing to go: Syracuse, New York. Over there we meet Lucas (Tom Blyth), a young cop who has recently broken up with his girlfriend Emily (Amy Forsyth) and is dealing with a farce that implies that his late dad had an affair with a man. In reality, all of this relates to Lucas who is assigned to go undercover in order to seduce gay men so they can be arrested for "indecent acts", but things get complicated when he falls for a target named Andrew (Russell Tovey). They continue to see each other and so Lucas faces a moral dilemma caused by the questionable work the cops are doing and those who he is attracted to.

For starters, Emmi has found a killer premise for one's first feature and that certainly gives you a head start these days. It's the 1990s so the AIDS crisis and hysteria surrounding it is obviously a political and sociopolitical backdrop for the narrative, in addition to the overall be-quiet-about-it nature of queerness. Then the script can get into the explorations of a person's sexual orientation, intimacy, shame, the amorality of a surveillance state, and even the wasted resources within the already broken police force in the United States. If you want to read that much into it, that is. Emmi's drama thriller introduces romantic, familial and psychological to varying degrees of success, but at its core, it's also a rather unique coming-out story—and we've definitely had too many generic ones at this point—and a story about identity as Lucas builds his entire personality based on his feelings towards Andrew in a really unfair and naive manner.

This fragile connection needs to be translated well for the movie to work emotionally and luckily both Blyth and Tovey produce plenty of friction. Blyth in particular portrays Lucas' issues regarding his identity, guilt and restlessness really beautifully, and whenever the two actors and their characters share the screen, Lucas' awareness, or lack thereof, clashes interestingly with Andrew's warmth and compassion. Emmi's written dialogue doesn't get in the way either since it's neatly restrained, although the same can not be said for his direction. The helmer seems to be hell-bent on using every single trick, cloud of smoke and mirror that he, editor Erik Vogt-Nilsen and cinematographer Ethan Palmer have at their disposal, and a lot of them fail to take off. I was pulled out of the drama and friction way too often and I'm sure that sentiment will be shared by many. Emmi overdirecting everything is a disservice to these actors and characters.

When all's said and done, however, Plainclothes is undoubtedly a solid debut because the performances are great and there's a distinct, fresh perspective. Plus, it must be said that the film is titled very cleverly as Lucas is afraid to reveal both his work uniform and his true colours since he hides behind a drab, heteronormative cloak, or he opts to stand in Andrew's shadow. A great sign that a lot of thought probably went into the storytelling choices. The movie is not without its flaws, but it is worth checking out.

Smileys: Story, Tom Blyth

Frowneys: Directing

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3.5/5

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