DVD: Disorder / Maryland (2015)

April 26, 2017 | By Mark R. Hasan

Film: Very Good

Transfer: Excellent

Extras: Standard

Label: IFC

Region: 1 (NTSC)

Released: December 13, 2016

Genre: Suspense

Synopsis: A down on his luck ex-special forces vet reluctantly accepts a babysitting job for a wealthy couple, and is the only one convinced a murder or kidnapping is imminent.

Special Features: Theatrical + Digital Trailers.

Review:

Alice Winocour’s suspense-drama feels like an extreme reduction of Man on Fire (1987 + 2007 film versions), with Matthias Schoenaerts (A Bigger Splash) playing Vincent, a PTSD war vet making an involuntarily transition into civilian life as a bodyguard for a security agency specializing in assorted dignitaries and industrialists. Vincent’s likely dismissal from active duty due to hearing issues and possible hallucinations makes him a perfect fit for a babysitting gig that involves a night in which he and five colleagues patrol a party at an Arab-French industrialist’s massive estate, but it’s a also pity favour tossed in his lap by buddy and team leader Kevin (Michaël Dauber), knowing Vincent’s sanity benefits from being busy and focused.

Vincent’s suspicions of a looming crisis – an attack, kidnapping, or murder – has him sleeping in 2 hour shifts, monitoring the estate’s lone inhabitants: a cook and servant, the industrilist’s wife Jessie (Diane Kruger), and her young son Ali (Zaïd Errougui-Demonsant). Vincent isn’t patient nor seeking to be anyone’s friend: he’s a bully to Ali at breakfast, and since the party, he sneaks stalker-like gazes at Jessie but his military discipline keeps him in check, whether at home or during a brief beach visit, but his suspicions come true when shady dealings with Middle Eastern figures sends a team of assassins to mete out punishment on mother and child.

As a minimalist suspense-drama, Disorder works, given no one’s happy, communicative, or especially content to being alive. Even Jessie treats motherhood as a job that’s tolerable, but the film is very much locked from Vincent’s stance, with his house & grounds patrol being unnervingly banal, scoping security cameras in the hope of an aberration to break the monotony, and sounds yield some genuine emotional harm. Most of the film deals with routine, and Vincent’s suppression of demons that’s partly accomplished from medication handed over by a fellow vet with connections at a rehab centre, but there are roughly three main events that reward Vincent for his patience, but they’re deliberately separated by more routine and minimal emotional interaction, making Disorder a bit of a challenge for action & suspense fans.

The trailers are packed with money shots and blatant spoilers (including a major jump), but they also present a film that’s more kinetic. Winocour does borrow some visual ideas from Michael Mann’s colour scheme (plus Main Title fonts), including neon-esque colours in the party scene, but amid the slo-mo footage, colourful pools of lights, a rainstorm, and techno-music, it’s also a cheat, because it’s all replaced with ordinary daylight and average nighttime shots for the film’s remaining bulk.

The shock sequences work due to careful editing, and one beautifully choreographed shot implants fear but delays the actual jolt until a light moment between Vincent, Jessie, and Kevin; the latter character is called by Vincent in for extra support in case of emergency. (Kevin’s arrival also implants a suspicion that he may be the architect of an elaborate plot to wipe out the family.)

Winocour’s final shot is a bit frustrating because it’s a classic French twist that’s either rooted in reality – the moment is possible, but it also shows a particular negligence on the part of one character – or Vincent’s mind dreaming up an ideal fantasy to soothe his PTSD-wounded psyche.

If the suspense seems weak and more than a little implausible, Schoenaerts sells the drama, being completely convincing as a numb soul trying to find a safe and stable room to explode, but he’s prevented from unraveling by his rigid military discipline and sense of duty. Georges Lechaptois’ cinematography is sleek but never flashy, and the electronic score by Gesaffelstein (Mike Lévy) veers into sound design, especially the electronic shrill and radio wave distortion that irritates Vincent; Winocour uses the score’s wavering intensity to signal moments in which Vincent feels emotionally overwhelmed, with even source music from a party coming off as overpowering.

Thus far, Disorder only exists as a DVD release from IFC, whereas Britain’s Soda offers the film on Blu plus a Q&A with director and actor Schoenaerts, and Winocour’s short films Kitchen (2005), Magic Paris (2007), and Pina Colada (2009).

External References:
Editor’s Blog — IMDB — Soundtrack Album

Vendor Search Links:
Amazon.ca — Amazon.com — Amazon.co.uk