Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Steve Pulaski Paul Schrader's Auto Focus puts a magnifying glass above one of the quirkiest rise and fall stories Hollywood has yet to see, which took place at the end of World War II and right through the rise of the free sex movement in the 1960's. It's a powerful film in the regard that, unlike a tangible addiction, to alcohol or a narcotic that leads to a person's downfall, this addiction is to sex and pleasure, two things that many of us regard as positives in life. How can both things be wrong when they feel so right?We follow Crane (Greg Kinnear) during his humble beginnings as a radio host for numerous different stations across the country, boasting a lively and energetic personality whilst starving for work as an actor. When handed the initial script for Hogan's Heroes by his agent, Crane was stunned to see humor stemming from a German POW camp and thought of the show as nothing other than career suicide. Nonetheless, he took the gig, as it was a rare starring role for a relative no-name actor like himself, and after some shortlived controversy, Hogan's Heroes was one of the most watched sitcoms on TV at the time.On set one day, Crane meet John Henry Carpenter (Willem Dafoe), an electronics expert who had a fascination with new and developing technology. John, nicknamed "Carp," introduces him to the home video market and the new videocamera, and beforelong, entranced Crane with the idea of filming their own pornography together. Crane and Carp eventually wind up seeking out beautiful young women at strip clubs and dive bars to take back to their hotelrooms and shoot videos with before cutting and editing the videos (and the many Polaroids), some for private use and some for distribution. While Carp sees this all as strictly business, Crane, a former churchgoing, straight-laced family man with a wife and two kids, becomes deeply immersed in the underbelly of illicit sex and pornography, quickly becoming an addict.The problem here is, unlike most addicts, Crane didn't see much harm in what he was doing, to himself or the countless amount of women he affected. "A day without sex is a day not lived" was his motto, and despite the growing frustration and eventual divorce from his first wife, Crane continued to shoot Hogan's by day and shoot other things by night. During this time of the film, Schrader more-or-less captures Crane's activities in an innocuous, almost flirtatious, manner that ostensibly comes from Crane's excitement with working on set. However, when Hogan's Heroes is long off the air and Crane finds himself doing dinner theater as a means of primary income, Schrader begins to focus on Crane's eventual descent into sex addiction.Crane personifies why sex addiction is so hard not only to fight but to admit at the very least. Crane is cocky and assured throughout most of the picture, boasting a clean-cut outfit at all times, neatly combed air, and teeth so white they could be bleached. He was the epitome of an American movie star in looks and, with monstrous mainstream success, it's understandably difficult for him to see how he could've had a problem; he must have been doing something right. Not to mention, the sex Crane was having felt amazing; his love for all kinds of women and breasts - both of which he never seemed to mind in terms of differing shapes and sizes - made him happy and, really, what's a little sex every day? Paul Schrader is the ideal soul to direct Auto Focus, but the downside to his approach is that this film is never as seamy as it could be. Schrader's love and fascination for man's damnation by self and the underbellies of the world is something that often results in a great, immersing film in terms of character and setting (see Hardcore and Taxi Driver if you need further proof). The problem here is that Auto Focus, even during its seamiest scenes, feels tame and half-baked. We never get fully immersed in what kind of nastiness Crane is getting himself into, nor do we see Crane really fall or plummet physically and mentally as is typical for these films. Perhaps this is Schrader distracting us from all the noise in order to give us something more insightful and contemplative, but I still can't help but feel that Auto Focus isn't as dark as it could be.The final twenty minutes of the film, however, shift the tone of the project ever-so carefully to create a moodier atmosphere so delicately that one can only wish this was the tone the film used throughout the last hour. Even Schrader's camera-work becomes more methodical and focused - as if it itself autofocused - and Jeffrey Greeley and Fred Murphy's cinematography becomes visually bleaker and almost akin to a neo-noir.Having said all that, the performances here alone are worth the price of admission; Kinnear, an actor given far too few serious roles, handles Bob Crane, a rather basic but troubled character, with a remarkable amount of subtly and authenticity. Kinnear develops mannerisms for Crane synonymous with the common man, almost turning him into your kind-hearted neighbor you'd never expect to commit such ugly, evil acts of sin. Alongside Kinnear is Dafoe, another immensely talented soul that communicates the possibility of being sexually attracted to Kinnear's Crane in a way that matches and never undermines Kinnear's beautiful subtlety.Schrader has made a film that, while nowhere near as explicit and seedy as it could've, and probably should've been, takes a real and seriously crippling addiction and, much like Crane's character, decorates it to the point where sometimes the audience asks what exactly the problem is. If you can do that to a film like this, you've really got the story and the character down.

Wuchak "Auto Focus" (2002) covers the last fifteen years of Bob Crane's bizarre life. Crane (Greg Kinnear) was best known for the role of Hogan in Hogan's Heroes, which ran from 1965-1971. The story details how he meets and befriends a video expert named John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe) around the time he gets the gig for Hogan's Heroes. Bob is soon seduced by the temptations of being a big star; "free sex" is the sin du jour of the era and Crane can't resist the scores of beautiful women who want him. Unlike Crane, Carpenter isn't a star and isn't very good-looking, but he's able to continually pick up women simply due to his friendship with Bob. During and, especially, after his popular TV show, Crane experiences a downward spiral as he becomes entangled in the web of loose sex. By June, 1978, he was dead at 49.The movie's based on Robert Graysmith's book "The Murder of Bob Crane: Who Killed the Star of Hogan's Heroes?," which – believe it or not – depicts Crane's plunge into sexual immorality even worse than seen in the movie.Director Paul Schrader is a writer and/or director of quite a few critically acclaimed films, like "Taxi Driver" (writer), "The Mosquito Coast" (writer) and "Hardcore" (writer & director). Speaking of "Hardcore," that film also addresses the subject of sexual hedonism and, in my opinion, is the superior film, mainly because of the fascinating father/daughter relationship that develops between a staunch Calvinist conservative (George C. Scott) and a young lost prostitute (Season Hubley). This isn't to say, however, that "Auto Focus" isn't good, just that it's not as good in my opinion as "Hardcore." If you can handle the sleazy aspects, "Auto Focus" maintains your attention and the actors do a quality job.If you have the DVD, be sure to watch the corresponding documentary on Crane's death and the most obvious culprit, John Carpenter (although there's still the slight possibility that someone else did it).Rita Wilson and Maria Bello are also on hand as Crane's wife and mistress/new-wife respectively. Michael E. Rodgers plays Bob's somewhat nemesis, Richard Dawson.PS: I know someone who worked as a waitress at an A&W in my area during the mid-70s when Crane was forced to do traveling theater work to earn a living, as shown in the movie. She waited on him and another guy and Bob was his typically amiable self, but with a decidedly smart-alecky edge. He didn't leave her a tip! The film runs 105 minutes and was shot in California and Arizona.GRADE: B

robbm674 I've read other reviews that stated this was a dark film about an actor gone wrong, I didn't see it as "dark", I've seen much much worse.This is a story about a gee whiz, aw shucks guy who gets caught up in the glitz of Hollywood, got into a friendship with a guy who used him for sex. Other reviews have indicated this movie hints at Carpenter as the killer, to me, it puts a big blinking neon sign over his head saying he's the killer. I have no doubt now Carpenter was a killer, and probably bisexual. He was as much as a sex addict as Crane was, and saw it vanishing, so for some reason, he thought it was a good idea to kill any possibility of using Crane for sex in the future. Makes no sense to me.Anyway, this movie is a typical tragedy, Crane was looking to get back with either one of his ex's, they didn't want anything to do with him. He then realized he had hit rock bottom, and was trying to climb back out. That's when he gets killed. He probably could have gotten that last woman the night before he died, but realized it wasn't what he wanted. He finally was at a turning point, and some selfish looser stopped it. Who knows what he might have accomplished.Overall, I was fascinated by what happened to a decent guy gone bad, it's just too bad it happened.

Neil Welch This film brings us some interesting material on the birth of home video or, more correctly, the point at which professional video started to cross over into home use.We get to see a number of generations of early video equipment being set up and brought into use, most of which operate in monochrome (most colour TV at the time was film-based and colour videotaped material was not the norm).Editing equipment is touched on, but there is relatively little about it: the film concentrates on cameras and recorders.A fascinating glimpse into the technical side of TV/video in the not-too-distant past! Highly recommended for all video technophiles!Oh, and there's some stuff about Bob Crane, too.