Dead Man's Wire

There are two types of films by Gus Van Sant (Restless, 3rd AFF): the auteur ones (Elephant, Gerry) and the, let’s say, “Hollywood” ones (Good Will Hunting, Finding Forrester). Dead Man’s Wire belongs to the latter category, this time crafted in the form of a thriller, uncharacteristically for the director. As in Milk or Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot (9th AFF), the script is based on a true story. In 1977, a man named Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård) entered the office of a bank official, Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery), tied a wire to his neck with a sawed-off shotgun at the other end (the titular dead man’s wire), and demanded redress for a fraud he claimed to have suffered. With the soul music of the era in the background, Van Sant reaches into the past to shed light on capitalist lawlessness in the real estate market (a theme even more relevant today). At the same time, the director winks at cinephiles by referencing Sidney Lumet’s legendary Dog Day Afternoon. The two films share a similar starting point; drawn from real life, as well as a type of protagonist: a desperate assailant who, through the media, gains public sympathy. We even get Al Pacino in the cast, this time, however, on the opposite side of the capitalist barricade. A symbol of the downfall of 1970s ideals, perhaps?