GAZER - Mark Reviews Movies

Gazer, Metrograph Pictures

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Review by Mark Dujsik | April 3, 2025

Writer/director Ryan J. Sloan's feature debut immediately puts us into a feeling of confusion and unease. That's because Gazer revolves around Frankie (Ariella Mastroianni, who also co-wrote the screenplay), a woman who has dyschronometria—a cognitive condition that essentially does not allow her to perceive the passage of time. There's more going on with the character's health, although it's so vaguely presented that, whatever they may be, Frankie's medical issues come across here as a plot device.

It's a fine one, though, for what turns out to be a thriller about distorted perception and uncertainty. Frankie has a habit of people-watching. It's almost a necessity for her to stay aware of herself and her surroundings in the moment, because her mind drifts whenever she isn't paying attention to anything or anyone in particular and she zones out—sometimes for hours at a time. Looking at things or people and coming up with little stories for them keep her focused, and when someone notices that Frankie has been watching her in what turns out to be a moment of vulnerability, our protagonist is pulled into a mystery that would be difficult for most people to piece together properly.

That it's especially difficult for Frankie is a given, considering her condition. Sloan and Mastroianni's script is quite effective generating suspense out of Frankie's confusion, putting her in the middle of a scheme or two or maybe more that she cannot comprehend. Part of it is in how her brain functions, but most of it is on account of only seeing the story she wants to see.

The movie is less successful and a bit distracting, however, when it tries to dig deeper into this character. Sloan and Mastroianni have, after all, created a protagonist who mostly serves the maze of this plot. If the movie's diagnosis of Frankie's condition feels a bit suspicious in how convenient it actually is for the plotting to work, its efforts to explore her outside of that central narrative also feel a bit forced, indefinite, and unnecessarily a matter of dreamlike style over any palpable substance.

Frankie's condition is presented quite simply here, as she listens to a cassette tape of her own voice, reminding herself that she needs to focus. That ends up losing her a job at a local gas station, because she's regularly more attentive toward her tapes than customers. Frankie needs money, though, because she has rent to pay (An eviction warning is waiting on the door to her apartment when she returns), a daughter to help provide for, and a mother-in-law (played by Marianne Goodell) who currently has custody of the child because the girl's father died by suicide and his mother convinced a court that Frankie isn't capable of being a parent. Frankie wants to earn enough money to fight that, because, as a doctor explains, she only has so much time left before this degenerative condition won't be treatable.

An opportunity for some seemingly easy cash arrives by way of a woman called Paige (Renee Gagner). She shows up at a group meeting for those whose loved ones have died by suicide, takes Frankie for a meal, and says that she knows Frankie was watching her apartment window the previous night. In silhouette, Frankie witnessed what looked to be a man hitting a woman, and Paige explains that she lives with her abusive brother.

Paige wants to leave town, but her car keys are still in the apartment. After learning about Frankie's financial woes, the woman offers her $3,000 to sneak into the apartment, retrieve the keys, and drive the car to a remote location.

Things go wrong, of course. Frankie has to hide from a man who comes into the apartment. She loses track of time after stopping at Paige's designated location, and when her cognizance returns, the car's trunk has been opened. After completing the task, Frankie is unable to contact Paige, either, leading her to track down the woman, not only because of the money, but also because she worries something bad might have happened to her.

The plot here basically comes down to a lot of investigative work on Frankie's part, as she attempts to follow Paige's steps, while staying ahead of men who are also looking for Paige—presumably the violent brother and his associates. There's not much here, in other words, but that's why the gimmick of Frankie's condition and Mastroianni's down-to-earth, determined, and sympathetic performance are so important.

They keep us on our toes and ill-at-ease in a way that reflects and amplifies the slowly peeling-back structure of the plot (as does Sloan's decision, with cinematographer Matheus Bastos, to shoot the movie on 16 mm film, with the graininess and scratchiness kind of matching Frankie's distorted view of things). Sloan also gives us flashes and extended dream sequences of Frankie's past, although these scenes, sometimes playing as if they belong in a completely different movie in terms of their approach (They lean into horror at times), show the obvious limitations of this material as anything beyond an intentionally confounding thriller.

It's mainly that Gazer is almost exclusively about its winding plotting, waiting for connections to be made and revelations to come to light. The pieces of that narrative fall into place soundly, but that attention means everything else, including Frankie in any way beyond her plot-necessary condition, is a shallow sidetrack.

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