Hindsight.

Hindsight

2000 13 min., d/sc/ed Susan Shipton

Award-winning editor Susan Shipton (whose distinguished work includes The Adjuster, Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, Felicia's Journey, Possible Worlds) makes a sure-footed, but disappointing, directorial debut in what is a rather slight comedic drama about the male gaze. Warren (Tom McCamus) is a shy, sheepish office worker who is accused by his co-worker Trina (Martha Burns) of spying on her. As they eat their lunches on a bench and make small talk, Trina suddenly springs on him, brandishing her best feminist orthodoxy with fury and precision: "You stare at me and imagine me naked. I see that bulging eye undressing me, invading me. It's an obsession, a perversion, an assault." He denies the charges and explains that the "staring eye" is actually made of glass. She asks him to remove it and proceeds to examine it while Warren mumbles about how he only wanted her to look back at him. Despite being well-acted and capably directed, there is something vaguely unsatisfying about Hindsight. The script (based on a play by Dennis Foon and adapted by Shipton) fails to develop enough tension to make either the humour of the encounter or the sadness of its outcome have any memorable impact. Indeed, perhaps the critical moment in the narrative -- I won't give it away, but let's just say it involves an encounter between the oral and the visual -- loses its power in the context of Warren and Trina's stilted, faltering relationship. Not without its charm, Hindsight offers glimpses of workplace alienation and frustrated desire, but needs a bit more focus to be 20/20.