OUT OF BLUE: An Ambitious But Unfocused Existential Crime Thriller

On first glance, Out of Blue appears to be the type of confounding film that can only be made by a director with a preceding breakout success and delusions of grandeur about becoming a fully-fledged auteur. Sometimes, this ambition pays off, but cinema history is littered with ambitious missteps that harm the careers of fledgling directors, if not derail them altogether; Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales and Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate are the most notable examples, even if cinephiles have gone on to positively reassess both. 

It’s somewhat unfair to categorise Carol Morley’s film alongside those, if only due to the decidedly lower budget and cultural impact of the films that preceded it, but her film can’t escape the fact that it’s reaching for something forever out of grasp. On paper, it’s an existential crime procedural, forcing its complex protagonist to question her place in the universe as she gets deeper into investigating the murder of an astrophysicist. But in action, it struggles with these philosophical issues, and can’t reconcile their place in a crime narrative. What should lead to weighty, complex discussions on the meaning of existence quickly becomes as thought-provoking as your average eighth grade science class, where the most dense concept presented is Schrödinger’s cat theory, which is naturally discussed at length multiple times.

With 2014’s excellent The Falling, Morley proved herself skilled at examining the human condition through a surreal lens – unfortunately, here she remains on the outside looking in, never offering a perspective on the philosophical meanderings of her characters beyond the surface.

An Existential Detective Drama

Patricia Clarkson stars as New Orleans cop Detective Mike Hoolihan, who has been called to investigate the murder of astrophysicist Jennifer Rockwell (Mamie Gummer). She had been found dead in the observatory, open skies above her, next to a telescope – interviews with academics discover that her research into black holes had sent her spiralling into a depression, although fingers remain firmly pointed at her colleagues Duncan Reynolds (Jonathan Majors) and Professor Ian Strammi (Toby Jones).

As Hoolihan delves deeper into this case, uncovering her relationships with her parents (James Caan and Jacki Weaver), she too grapples with the existential ponderings at the heart of Jennifer’s research, falling into a spiral that could prove not too dissimilar to the astrophysicist during her final days.

The film is very loosely based on Martin Amis’ 1997 novel Night Train, a parody of the self-seriousness of detective fiction that the author wrote in a deadpan style a less discerning reader could mistake for the real thing. Morley has only lifted the bare bones of that narrative, crafting something similarly unique from a well-worn premise; the hard boiled cynicism of the source material has been replaced by something more thoughtful, aiming to explore the bigger existential questions instead of tiptoeing across the brink of despair. But Morley’s earnestness does feel of apiece with the Amis work she adapted, albeit unintentionally – instead of feeling boldly original, its discussions of well-worn philosophical and metaphysical concepts feel laughable, and hard to view as anything other than a joke-free parody, just like the source material. 

Morley has made the noteworthy decision to shift the drama to New Orleans, instead of Amis’ nondescript everytown, which means that Out of Blue does have shades of southern gothic, and is arguably more satisfying viewed as a character study in this classic genre than as a direct adaptation of a crime procedural. But even then, it doesn’t fully commit to the necessary grotesquerie; the closest it comes to achieving this is via an unusual supporting performance from Jacki Weaver, which feels awkwardly lifted in from a broader, trashier work of genre fiction. And once again, even if it were a success at replicating this style, it would still feel awkward when placed next to the endless discussions of surface level existentialism that seem to have been lifted entirely from a “Philosophy for Dummies” tome.

A Parody of Detective Fiction?

You could argue that, like Amis’ novel, taking the film at face value is a flaw in itself, and that to fully appreciate it I have to view it as a parodic work that has the uncanny appearance of a serious, weighty genre film. And to an extent, this works; Weaver plays her supporting role with a knowing campiness, and some of the stilted dialogue is undeniably ridiculous.

Even Patricia Clarkson, whose performance feels deliberately underplayed even when having to recite preposterous lines, such as interrogating every suspect in the case by asking them about Schrödinger’s cat, eventually gives in to a sense of camp. A sequence where she gets drunk at a strip club, kisses a stripper and dances on stage feels out of place like nothing else in this film, but will likely find a more appropriate home on gay film twitter (who have anointed her an unlikely gay icon) when available in Gif form. 

It would be a cliché to describe the slightest hints of surrealism as Lynchian, but Morley does appear to be riffing on that director’s distinctive sense of style – from the unusual behaviour of characters that remains uncommented on, to the 50’s music soundtrack, Out of Blue often feels like a derivative of Blue Velvet, even if I was left unclear as to how intentional this was.

With The Falling, Morley explored the concept of identity within adolescence, and her latest feels like the opposite side of that thematic coin, somebody finally looking to discover their place in the world when approaching old age. But the peculiarities of her earlier film felt organically interlaced into a grounded coming-of-age drama. Here, the various aspects at play feel like they’ve been shepherded in from different films altogether.

Out of Blue: Conclusion

Out of Blue can’t be faulted for its ambitions, but there’s a lack of focus, oscillating wildly between ill-fitting genres and never satisfying as any. It’s a singular work that few other filmmakers would dare make – but this time, Morley’s ambitions got the better of her. 

Out of Blue is released in the UK on March 29th, and is already on release in the US.