What happens when a
self-centered, larger than life, male chauvinist used car lot manager
discovers that his life is meaningless? In the Woman Chaser, he
decides to write and direct a movie. The black and white narrative with
a film industry anti-hero lead character is reminiscent of Billy
Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, only Robinson Devor’s feature film
directorial debut walks a much sharper satirical edge. As a low budget
noir spoof, the Woman Chaser creates a great period feel with
authentic cars, costumes, and style.
The used-car hustler,
Richard Hudson (Patrick Warburton), ambles through his paces as a
charismatic swindler who fits right into the Los Angeles scene of
fragile psyches and overblown egos. His mother, an ageless ballerina
married to the once great and now bankrupt film director, puts Richard
up in the room above the garage of her mansion. When Richard’s moment
of crisis arrives, and he decides to leave his mark in the world by
making a movie, he freely admits being far too incapable of channeling
his creative urges through the real art of painting or sculpting. Making
a movie, on the other hand, is something a person with his “people
skills” can easily achieve. Hilarious complications ensue when the
movie is completed. Richard ultimately feels betrayed as an artist and
decides to exact his revenge on the cruel world of filmmaking.
Patrick Warburton’s
insightful performance reels us into Hudson’s bizarre life of sex and
ambition heavily spiced with the wry humor and staccato narrative.
Despicable as he is, Richard only draws out and capitalizes on the
weaknesses of others thus creating an amusing commentary on the absurd
human dysfunctionality, isolation, and illusions.
Normally, we are quick
to assume that independent films are made in black and white because of
a forgiving compromise between artistic expression and budget
restraints. However, director Robinson Devor shot the Woman Chaser in
color and then had the color washed out to achieve the period feel of
the film. In a daring effort, Devor also adapted Charles Willeford’s
novel and succeeded in creating a refreshing and engaging first film.
The Woman Chaser offers
a clever and well-executed departure from main-line Hollywood fair. Its
characters are deliciously twisted and ever so fragile samples of
humanity, but, at their best, they give us good entertainment with
little insight or inspiration. The frameworks of their lives bar them
from finding transformation, and even their downfall leaves us untouched
emotionally. The insanity of illusions, whether it creates the seemingly
idyllic endless summer of an old ballerina, or a bottomless self-pity of
a washed-up director, or even if it propels a used car salesman to the
creative heights of a filmmaker, ultimately breaks down the psyche that
fuels it. Thus, as an exploration of human propensity to chase
illusions, the Woman Chaser comes through in grand style.
