Frame Of Mind (2009)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Touches You

Powerful

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

the holes of story. the nice potential. the decent acting. that are the characteristics of movie. not good, not bad. only an exercise on a delicate subject. maybe, the expectations are great but it is not really OK to be surprise because the great virtue is just measure. a common story about a big subject. the collision between high interest of a group and idealism of a young man. result - an interesting search of roots of affair. and Carl Evans does a nice role. not original but interesting, it is the kind of movie who do not gives answers. only suggest an almost realistic attitude about a significant secret. and that is all.

Straight-to-DVD isn't always the kiss of death for a film. Carl T. Evans not only directs, but plays David Secca, a police detective looking for a change of scenery and returns to New Jersey, where his father was once on the force. David and his wife Jennifer(Arija Barelkis)buys an old camera case at an antique shop. Inside the case is a piece of film that shows a lone man trying to conceal a rifle and standing on what looks like that infamous grassy knoll in Dallas. Secca begins taking time away from his small town mundane job in search of answers...does he actually have a piece of film that is part of a government conspiracy covering up the Kennedy assassination. Chris Noth plays a college professor that has actually written a book about the conspiracy theory , but is skeptical of Secca's claim of new evidence. The two original owners of the small piece of film, both died of strange circumstances. Secca's paranoia has him wondering if he and his wife now have targets on their backs. Also in the cast: Tony Lo Bianco, Barbara Barrie, Don Harvey, Vincent Curatola and Greg Connolly.

Looking at the other reviews about this film, I wonder if I saw the same picture they did. This is not a great movie, but it is certainly not as bad as some would have you believe. The technical aspects of this picture were top notch. There are some holes in the plot but overall this is a decent picture dealing with a compelling subject.I am always suspect of motive when a reviewer denigrates an Actor/writer/director and dismisses the picture as a "Vanity" film. Are they jealousy? There have been some truly wonderful "Vanity" films like Citizen Kane, Slingblade, One-Eyed Jacks....not that this is a wonderful film, but you never know how something is going to turn out until it's finished. I liked it. Kudos to Carl T. Evans for trying. Nobody sets out to make a bad film and this is NOT a bad picture. See it and make up your own mind.

Technically, this is a very good film. It is kind of a "39 Steps" or "N by NW" themed film, in that there is an innocent man suddenly thrown in against the forces of evil.I have seen lots of low budget or "b" movies with terrible production quality. "Frame of Mind" is not one of those. Carl Evans did a very admirable job writing, starring, and directing this film. While he is not necessarily a dynamic actor, he definitely has a greater range than say Bill Pullman.It was really nice to see Barbara Barrie again, as she is truly a memorable actress who gave "Barney Miller" a lot more depth as Barney's wife.Plot wise, for a Kennedy assassination film, it takes a slightly different stance than many of the conspiracy buff movies (in that it focuses on film of the grassy knoll taken before Kennedy arrives). the final twist is great, and while several reviewers trash the movie as not having enough action, I actually found it believable.After all, what would you do if you had the weight of the world coming down on you and all you wanted was to see your wife and kids stay alive and you knew you couldn't win. you would do what he does, and consequently, i think a lot of assassination researchers made the same choice. good movie, thoughtful, worth the time.