Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: ICONOCLAST [Tribeca Film Festival - New York, New York]

Gabriel Basso has been doing some interesting work. He came on the scene with "Night Agent", a better-than-normal action series for Netflix and then did a trilogy with "The Strangers" doing something completely different. For his writing and directing debUt, his mind continues to be in the right place. "Iconoclast" [Spotlight Narrative] is very different than his other stuff which he did relay outside while his first screening played. But it is also right in line in other ways. It is a dark character piece with a nice genre twist that didn’t require a lot of money...just a unique perspective of telling the story. Why this was the story Basso wanted to tell at this point is intriguing and quirky. His approach is tense and a bit dangerous at times but also empathetic and a little twisted which is inherently a strong voice. His character is enamored of a girl he sees in a live stream and builds her up in his mind. But he himself is alone. He is not remarkably unadjusted but he is dealing with stuff which we never get a full view of (which is intentional). He is big into weights but that has to do more with what someone wants him to be (said live streamer girl -- but not him necessarily). And the way they show that voice is wonderfully done.

This is the best acting Basso has done so far because he knows how to capture it. Does it go a bit much in some scenes? Sure. But he is trying to keep it real and that is what is sort of cool. As his character, he belies a certain fear but it really clicks in when he heads into a restaurant prepped for darkness and he gets thrown a curve ball. Connor, as a character, is still a human but he is teetering on what that means for him. Morgan (Rain Spencer) who happens (more as a plot ploy) into his life is a girl who happens to get hired as the dead appliance story he works at, gives that glimmer of hope while there is a certain ghosting in the character of Nikka (Courtney Eaton) which is a completely other thing. The film brings to mind "The Wrestler" for some reason but that might be the penchant for Darren Aronofsky's characters to get in way over their heads. Connor is a good guy on a path to ruin though he tries to do his best. But it seems no matter what he does the cliff doth approach. “Iconoclast” is a very assured first feature, novice in a couple ways but slicing and slick in many others. Basso creates a film that does a lot of things and does them well on a tight budget with limited sets and times but with a characters, especially his, that are full of depth. A-

By Tim Wassberg