Just When You Thought Life Couldn't Get Any Odder...

RECON

A Rather Detailed Solsbury Report by Mercutio.

From The Box issue 3.1 (December 1994): 'Peter Gabriel has recently taken the lead role in a short film produced by Wild Track Productions in Hollywood. In the film, entitled "RECON", Peter plays the character of future cop John Grant, a man with no face, on a criminal investigation which takes him across the boundaries of time. The original screenplay was written by Director Breck Eisner and producer Steven Cantor. Filming took place in October on location in the new LA subway system. The experience was described by Peter as "exciting, and lots of fun, but exhausting!"'

It seems that RECON has been something of a problem to Gabriel fans, dying to see his first major part in a short film, and on the whole not really being able to. Fortunately I have managed to come across a copy on video and it only took me four years! For the benefit of those that haven't seen it, the film runs something like as follows:

Close up of eye, superimposed with a gun shooting. Cut to cityscape, looks computer generated, very dark and gloomy, similar feel to The Crow. From the opening credits this looks nothing like a student film, we're talking very Hollywood, folks. We enter a dark alley where the Chief is approaching a crime scene with Santiago at his side. She's badgering him:

'He's seen too many murders, Chief. He's changed.'

Santigao wants to do it instead. Chief brushes her off as 'inexperienced'.

Cut to John Grant, trussed up in some futuristic head restraint, like something out of A Clockwork Orange. Hair is definitely Us-era (like the Steam video), with the goatee. He's looking pretty uncomfortable. Around him are computers and stuff, one flashing images of two human bodies with 'Victim' and 'Detective' flashing above each.

Big special effects thing, fast moving flashing images, seemingly unconnected to anything previously. Cut to:

John Grant (PG) zaps into a train car like Scotty's beamed him down. He staggers through. He walks right up to a woman and looks in her face. She can't see him, but she notices some guy in a hat facing away from her in the train. Grant walks up to man in the hat. He has no face. Grant says,

'No detail rendered. Shit, she hasn't seen his face.'

The woman gets off the train at a station (you can tell it's a new subway system, there isn't even any dust in it). She stops momentarily to look in a convex mirror. The man in the hat is following her. She continues to another platform up the escalators. Grant is waiting at the top. She walks straight through him while he quickly zaps out and back in facing the opposite direction.

She turns around to look at an approaching train when the man in the hat takes her from behind. There is a struggle and she lays into him with her umbrella before running away up the stairs.

Chase scene as the man in the hat takes off. Rhythmic music, good chase scene. She runs into the alley where the crime scene was at the beginning (can you see where this is headed?). As she approaches the end she realises the alley is fenced off at that end (oh no!).

The man in the hat approaches her. Suddenly Grant is there inbetween them, staring at the man in the hat intently.

'Come on, step into the light. I need an ID.'

The man in the hat approaches even closer. Still staring at him, Grant addresses the woman:

'Look at him! Look at his face!'

The man in the hat steps into the light and a face emerges from the blankness. Grant finds he is staring at himself. Needless to say, he's a little surprised at this.*

The man in the hat/Grant raises his gun and shoots to both the woman's and Grant's cries of, 'Don't shoot!' Suddenly the world turns into computer generated polyhedron image of the scene. The man in the hat/Grant shoots again and we're back into the fast flashing images again. At this point you may notice that the fast images are memories, bits out of the woman/victim's life.

Blank screen with cursor. Prints: 'BRAIN FUNCTIONS TERMINATED.'...then: 'MEMORY RECONSTRUCTION COMPLETE.'

We pull back from the black screen which becomes the pupil of the victim's eye. She's trussed up just like Grant, but they're pulling it off her now. Then you realise that she and grant have been connected via computer and he's been investigating her memory of her own murder.

Grant begins untrussing himself. The chief and Santiago are standing over him. Says the Chief:

'Give me a debriefing. Whaddaya got Grant? Whadidja see?'

Grant is lifted up, he looks extremely tired and dishevelled: 'The killer stepped into the light.'

'HA! You got a positive ID!'

'Yeah, she saw him.'

Chief goes about his merry way. Santiago stays with Grant, looking concerned. Grant says, 'It was me.'

Santiago says, 'Grant?'

Grant shouts to the Chief: 'IT WAS ME!'

Santiago: 'Grant, what are you saying?'

Grant: 'I killed that woman.'

Santiago: 'That's not possible.'

Chief: 'Have you lost your mind? You think you did it?'

Grant: 'Just get me off the streets.'

Chief: 'Go home, Grant. Get some rest.'

Grant starts to walk off dejectedly.

Santiago: (to Chief) 'He didn't do it.'

Chief: 'I know that!'

Santiago: 'He's witnessing all these murders. He's changed.'

Chief: (ominous pause) I gotta murder to solve.

Santiago takes off after Grant and puts his coat around his shoulders. Grant's not looking too good. The camera pans up to the cityscape that opened the film.

End.

Phew! Lucky it wasn't a feature! The music is very good, extremely PG influenced, but it's not PG himself. It's by some guy called Jonathan Elias. It's very professional feel to the film and Peter is surprisingly good, not that the role stretches his acting capabilities in any way shape or form, but generally it's pretty good. I was damn impressed! Well that's it.

I'll be posting something about RECON on my website empty white noise when I get a chance, so keep your eyes peeled. Any questions? Really? Email me now. You know you want to.

* Editor's note: Doesn't this scene seem to smack a little bit of the 'I Don't Remember' video? You know...where he's running down a corridor and throws himself down in front of these three strange guys. He looks into the faces of these men, and finds that one of them is himself (and wearing a hat!)

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