‘Gazer’ (2024)

A mystery thriller that follows Frankie (Ariella Mastroianni), ‘Gazer’ tracks the young mother who struggles with dyschronometria, making it difficult for her to perceive time. Using self recorded cassette tapes, Frankie tries to navigate life with the debilitating disease and work to save up enough to support her daughter. Accepting a job from a mysterious woman, Frankie gets herself tied up in a dangerous situation.

Opening on Frankie as she works the night shift at a gas station as an attendant, she listens to her cassettes for guidance, helping her navigate through her shift, prompting her not to ‘zone out’ and stay focused on the job. Looking on to an apartment building, she imagines the lives of the people she sees through the windows. Noticing an altercation and a woman leave the building shortly after, Frankie is let go from her job as she spaces out.

Later attending a suicide survivor support group, Frankie meets Paige (Renee Gagner). Frankie realises Paige is the woman she saw earlier in the apartment building, and Paige tells Frankie her brother has become increasingly controlling since their mother’s suicide from a prescription drug overdose. The two connect and Paige later asks Frankie to help her retrieve her car from her brother’s place, promising a hefty amount of money in return, that Frankie desperately wants for her daughter.

Having retrieved the car and driven it to a remote meeting point, Frankie has an episode and she comes to with the boot of the car open, having heard strange noises from it earlier. She later understands that Paige is not going to show up and there probably wasn’t any money.

Frankie also learns that a woman was found nearby where she had dropped off Paige’s car. Realising that she is being framed for the murder of the woman, who actually turns out to be Paige, Frankie tries to find the woman who roped her into her scheme and make it out unscathed.

Opening on a dark and dreary night as Mastroianni’s Frankie tries to get through her night shift with the help of her tapes, the film immediately sets the tone of Frankie’s being, as one of isolation and loneliness. Watching other people around her live their lives as she struggles to get by in hers.

The woman leads a solitary life with a score of dark layers, colouring her life as one of loss, pain and fear for the future. Dealing with neurological deterioration as her disease takes over her life, Frankie also has to live with having lost her husband to suicide and being unable to take care of her young daughter.

As if the situation wasn’t grim enough, meeting Gagner’s Paige only invites trouble. The promise of a large sum of money for a seemingly simple enough task pulls Frankie into a sinister plan, taking advantage of her kind and desperate nature. Ultimately discovering that the woman who had introduced herself ass ‘Paige’ is in fact someone else, - a woman called Claire.

Claire’s plan was to kill the real Page, a pharmaceutical company worker, who was indirectly tied to the reason Claire’s mother had committed suicide, as the company they both worked for accused her of stealing, forcing her into a difficult situation and thereafter spiralling and ultimately overdosing on drugs.

Seeing Frankie as an easy mark, Claire substitutes her into her own place, framing her for the murder of Paige. Unfolding slowly, the first two acts of the film establish Frankie’s miserable and dire situation, inviting us to suffer along with her as she desperately tries to pay her dues and earn some money for her daughter.

Ramping up exponentially, as Frankie managers to uncover Claire’s conspiracy, the film becomes increasingly darker and ramps up the tension. Forcing us to endure with Frankie as she is confronted by Claire and forced to swallow a bottle of pills, the film makes us suffer alongside Frankie as she claws her way out of an impossible to escape situation.

Making her way to her daughter, Frankie tries to run from Claire and the law as she is being chased down by both, with the film closing on her at the wheel of a car, asking her daughter to help her stay in the moment, not to ‘zone out.’

Tragic and desperate, ‘Gazer’ delivers on all fronts when it comes to a mystery thriller. Suspenseful and immersive, the film establishes Mastroianni’s character as someone with a singular goal, ready to do anything to be able to help her daughter while she still has the time. Unsuspecting, we go along with Frankie as a rare opportunity comes by, ready to do anything as there is little time to achieve our goal.

Delivering a gut punch revelation, Frankie persists when she realises she has been duped. Instead of breaking down and accepting her fate, Frankie fights till the very last moment. Even though we’re aware she cannot ultimately win, we persist right along side her, wanting her not to be the victim of someone else’s revenge story.

Dark and anxiety inducing, ‘Gazer’ also sprinkles in a few scenes of absurd expression. Making great use of some practical effects to deliver on gore and unexpectedly psychedelic sequences, the film produces much more than could have been anticipated, in terms of expressing both the deteriorating mental state of the protagonist and also her crumbling world view as the walls close in on her as she is dragged through a murder conspiracy.

Subversive and gripping, ‘Gazer’ delivers an excellent mystery thriller that executes its plot beautifully, allowing for the world to crash down on Frankie and the audience at the same time. Successfully delivering a mystery that is not outright obvious and manages to suffuse it with layers of darkness and tragedy seemingly impossible to live with, the film grabs one by the neck and only squeezes tighter as the feature approaches its conclusion. Masterfully shot, written and acted, ‘Gazer’ is a rare gem that needs to be seen.

Score: 4/4