VIFF 2015: Experimenter rewards its audience

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      Experimenter (USA)  

      Indie auteur Michael Almereyda has made vampire movies and biker flicks, but he’s never attempted anything as quietly, formally disturbing as Experimenter.

      It looks at the life and work—mostly the latter—of Ivy League researcher Stanley Milgram (a fatally controlled Peter Sarsgaard) whose studies in obedience made him the Alfred Kinsey of fascism. His early-’60s experiments in faux punishment revealed how readily humans can be induced to torment each other, as long as responsibility is taken by someone claiming authority. He also examined the tenuous connections between people, popularizing the “six degrees of separation” concept that has since come to mean a celebrity-infused form of empathy.

      The director uses rear projections, direct audience address, and other cleverly designed distancing devices, perhaps more than they’re strictly needed to merge theatre and science. (Still, we are talking about someone played on TV by William Shatner.)

      Winona Ryder’s role as his not-so-suffering wife feels like a slightly missed opportunity. But the movie itself is a rewarding experiment in reaching an audience with profound messages not everyone will like.

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