The first time I caught 'Skip Tracer' I wasnt really in the right headspace to appreciate what it was trying to do. Now a year or two on from my first viewing, Part of it was my own fault, I went into this thinking it was going to be a bit more of a charismatically bleak piece (Ala 'Withnail & I') only to find it to be an incredibly nihilistic picture, with punctuations of hope and positivity.
Tonight, I was finally in the right headspace to sit down and take it all in properly, and while Im still not 100% confident I nailed EVERY aspect of what this film was trying to do and say (which IS a good thing, I'd rather a film with multiple layers of complexity over a base level picture when it comes to this kind of tone and subject) What I was able to process, was really quite incredible given the scope and budget.
The film follows John Collins, a 'Skip Tracer' (basically a hardened repo man/baliff) who uses intimidation tactics and stop just short of violence (some do cross that line) in order to recover acrude debt thats been given to folks via the company used to recover the debt.
The film opens with John putting a 'For Sale' sign up at the home of George Petigrew. a man deep in debt with a wife and kids who are struggling badly, they beg for more time, but John tells them straight that its not him asking for the money, its the company.
Johns a ruthless character, he's won 'Man of the year' at the company for 3 years and he's not far off winning it for a 4th. This is acknowledged by Brent, a new starter to the business whos just...TOO nice for the job, and so in an attempt to harden up, he cozies up to John asking if he can shadow him and support on jobs in order to learn from the master.
John tells him up front 'No.' but Brents persistent, eventually to try and shake him, John sets Brent up to run the jobs he doesnt want to do (I.E the ones where he's most likely to get filthy, or beaten to within an inch of his life) But Brent doesnt use intimidation, he uses kindness...and it somehow seems to work more than being cold to the clients. Johns confused by this and begins to question how Brent even got into the job in the first place.
Problems slowly start to creep in however, John has a couple of mistakes happen on the job that prevent him making a claim, and a message from upper management, curious about 'how dedicated John is to his job' results in John losing his private office and being forced to work on the floor with all the other agents working low level cases. Johns Boss Henry tells him he needs to beat last years record, and if he does, he'll get his office back.
But things slowly start to go even further off the rails when word gets to John that Petigrew is slowly breaking down due to stress and that he's taking it out on the wife and kids. Brent continues to open up Johns thoughts to life beyond the business and after a chance encounter with a (possibly) hired thug resulting in a stabbing that puts John in the hospital, he begins to evaluate his life and where he's heading if he stays in this business.
I really fell in love with this picture on this rewatch truthfully, It should be noted that its a VERY slow burn for 94 minutes long. But its a slow burn thats rewarding, doesnt baby the audience and works a satisfying range of thoughts and feelings that really does give it a strong rewatch value.
As mentioned, the script takes its time here, but the pacing rarely if ever drops. its consistently pushing forward the narrative themes and ideas right across the runtime. Its a film that deals largely with themes of humanity, life and moral values, as John really struggles with the idea of whether this industry really truely is for him. When we join John he's closed off from the world, he's shut himself down to deal with the trauma he has to deal with on a day to day basis to keep his numbers up.
But the introduction of Brent and veteran Skip Tracer 'Leo' really introduce that definition that takes the script to the next level. With Brent bringing the element of 'fresh facedness' an offer of hope, possibility and life beyond the graft. and Leo offering the other side of the coin, a cold, fully shut down, stuck in his ways, self described 'Asshole' who's so deep into the life he's made, he feels nothing but whatever it takes to get him to the next gig. He's considered 'one of the best' But this leads John to begin questioning 'At What Cost'
And I think they handle those themes expertly here, particularly in the 3rd act when those feelings really begin to boil over and a particularly nasty exchange near the end of the film is a total rug pull for the audience, and from that point onwards, you know exactly what John needs to do.
The act structurings a little slack, I think the first act overruns slightly and the 2nd act underruns a bit. But on the whole its solid. the act changes are a little too overt for my taste. I think a few more unexpected surprises to help better mask the shifts in tone would have helped smooth things over a little better...but thats a minor issue, if any honestly.
The characters are all wonderfully crafted, multi layered compelx and naturalistic believable roles. The director had previously had experience working with his father in selling life insurance and a lot of the influence from working in that field was transplanted into this film. It feels like a real world, it feels like these events COULD (and no doubt DID) happen in one form or another.
and only enhancing that still is some superb dialogue which feels very naturalistic. doesnt drown the atmosphere of the picture, is select, poigniant and brings with it a level of charm and bleakness that really helped keep the pace up when the slow burn started getting a little too slow.
The direction here is pretty rock solid too, if im being honest I dont *quite* feel like this is something revolutionary. But given this was Director Zale Dalen's first feature production. Im honestly quite impressed, as most experienced directors fail to hit this level of quality consistently.
While theres not much in the way of creative experimentation, shots clearly had a lot of creative thought put into them, and given this was a fairly light crew, it only makes how professional this production looks and feels, feel that much more unique and special.
Direction of the cast really is a winning point here, with clear communication, there isnt a WHOLE lot of folks to physically do in this picture, but its clear strong conversations were had around how best to deliver dialogue, and there was clearly some slack around improvising with set space and props. Which the cast run with, again really helping to sell this world and being realistic and naturalistic.
Performance wise, David Petersen gives the performance of a career here as John, a transformative act, he works a FULL range across the runtime, and seemingly does the impossible, making a deeply unlikable character utterly watchable through a full redemption arc. he brings a subtle, but perfectly timed performance to proceedings and I honestly dont think anyone could have bettered him on this one truthfully.
Rudy Szabo as Leo is also excellent, he doesnt get that much screen time, but every scene he was in, he FULLY pulls you in with just a TOTALLY uncomfortable level of slime and sleaze. He's playing a man long past caring and he really gets to the heart of the role, fully convincing you that there is NOTHING behind the eyes of this character by the third act.
The rest of the cast are also pretty rock solid (no complaints from me) in fact, the biggest flaw I think I have for the whole film is probably in its soundtrack. and even then its not THAT big of an issue. But basically, for this film, they've chosen to go for a pretty minimalist score. its pretty much one of two sounds, a really cheap synthesizer playing basic melodies. or a drum, bassey synth combo leading a percussive range.
For the most part, its used well. Punctuating key scenes as required. It works and I quite enjoyed it. But there are just a few moments across the runtime where that high pitched warbling synth really makes its presence known a little too hard, and it really kind of threw me, because the films so well handled in almost every other regard, to see it then jump to the kind of music that only really existed in direct to video self help guides in the late 80s...was a bit odd.
All in all, I highly recommend 'Skip Tracer' particularly if your a fan of bleak character driven drama pieces such as 'Midnight Cowboy' or 'Taxi Driver' while not 1:1 with the those films, tonally they share similar grounds. and given its VERY clear how much passion and heart went into this production. I frankly feel like the more people who can see it the better.
[Skip Tracer is available via 'Gold Ninja Video' and if you are going to check this out, I highly recommend going for that release, as it includes two different cuts of the film plus a TON of extras that are all really quite wonderful]
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/skip-tracer/1/
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