Frame director does suspense/thriller/mys tery better than anyone.
From the few tidbits that have leaked out thus far about Jamin Winans new film, it looks to be yet another dark and mysterious thriller that makes the moviegoer think throughout. Something that will keep you on the edge of your seat and wondering during the duration of the film about what's real and what's not. But will ultimately leave you satisfied about what you've seen. And that excites me as a moviegoer, because that's something Winans does better than any filmmaker working today imho.
When you watch his films, like say Ink for example, you are pulled into his mystery. Different shots, scenes, and characters that you are not entirely acclimated to are shown, which sometimes you the viewer can't understand or even get a grip on until halfway through the movie(for some even later). In the end though, like any good movie, everything makes sense, all the loose ends tied, every question answered, etc. What makes Jamin different though, and really the 'king' in the realm of the modern thriller/mystery, is that upon second viewing of his films, you don't feel cheated, because you realize he was never intentionally hiding anything from you. It's simply that it took the journey of the film to put all the pieces together.
Take some of these latest 'thrillers' in theaters, even some of the highly touted ones like Inception(which i personally enjoyed). But you watch them, and they are so difficult to figure out, but then the end of the movie comes, and everything comes together, and you understand what really happened all along. But then you pop the DVD in again, now knowing everything, and upon second viewing, you realize the movie was actually made 'hard to understand' just for thrillers-sake. That there were things put in there(or left out) by the director that intentionally confused you, or at least didn't help you to figure it out. I have come to dislike these kinds of films over time. Where there's no way you could figure out the twist, because the filmmaker leaves information out, or adds bad information throughout.
It's very different watching a Jamin Winans thriller the second time around. It's not trivial, as with most thriller/mystery films you already know the ending to, but rather a delight. A delight to see how literally everything was right there in front of you the whole time. The identity of the bad-guy, the real cause behind everything, etc. It's so obvious that it makes you want to laugh, because the director hides nothing, nor sends you on wild goose chases just to keep the mystery going. He shows you everything the first time, but the mystery he has spun is just so good that it takes a whole movie for it and you to put all the pieces together. Which is satisfying to the common moviegoer i think.
This is what has me excited about The Frame. The director doesn't insult your intelligence with a contrived mystery, but rather asks you to take a journey with him that you'll fully understand in retrospect. I've watched hundreds of modern thrillers, and in this genre, Jamin is in a class of his own. I look forwards to The Frame keeping me guessing again and again, without making me or the audience in general look stupid.