Cast: Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, Uma Thurman
Director: Richard Linklater
Producers: Gary Winick, Alexis Alexanian, Anne Walker-McBay
Screenplay: Stephen Belber, based on his play
Cinematography: Maryse Alberti
U.S. Distributor: Lions Gate Films
For Richard Linklater, 2001 represents a particularly fertile year, and, as we enter the fourth quarter, the Texas-based director has not one, but two, films available in theaters. The first is Waking Life, a trippy, animated dream that rambles on about all sorts of philosophical and political subjects. The other movie, Tape, is more conventional, but no less engrossing. A filmed (actually videotaped, since this was shot using digital video) three-character play, Tape never moves beyond the confines of a small motel room. Powered by the star wattage of Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, and Uma Thurman, the project was completed in a scant three weeks (two weeks of rehearsal and six days of actual filming) on a miniscule budget. Like Waking Life, it's a talky piece, but the subjects addressed are of a much different nature.
There isn't much of a plot. Tape is about the reunion of two old friends, Vince and Johnny (Hawke and Sean Leonard), at a film festival in Lansing, Michigan. As these two reminisce about past times and where their lives have gone in the 10 years since high school, one significant, unresolved issue comes to the fore - the girlfriend whom Vince dated and Johnny slept with. But was it just sex, or was it rape? When pushed, Johnny admits that they were both drunk, the sex was rough, and he held her down. Vince captures this admission on tape, then invites the woman, Amy (Thurman), to the motel to offer her own surprising recollections of the situation.
In addition to exploring the thorny topic of date rape, Tape examines how the passage of time can distort memories, and how no two perceptions of the same event are ever identical (remember Rashomon?). Along the way, a number of other issues are touched upon, but everything comes back to the central question: what is rape and was it committed in this case? The three lead actors are superlative (Hawke and Sean Leonard moreso than Thurman, who has the least amount of screen time), fully inhabiting their characters. Screenwriter Stephen Belber's words recall the cadence and content of something by David Mamet; indeed, comparisons to Oleanna are perhaps inevitable. For something so static, Tape is an amazingly dynamic motion picture - one that challenges viewers' ideas and preconceptions.
© 2001 James Berardinelli