Bad Timing (1980) Review

“A Terrifying Love Story” [1]. This a British produced thriller, neo-noir that involves a young American woman’s overdose in Vienna and the investigation by Inspector Netusil (Harvey Keitel) into whether it was a suicide attempt, or if there was some type of foul play from her older American lover professor Alex Lindon (Art Garfunkel).

The inspector completes the triangle of dark and seedy characters that are typical for a noir film; in this one he is trying to solve the investigation. Netusil and Lindon’s characters are mirror image reflections of each other; they have similar dress and mannerisms but are “on opposite sides of the mirror” [2]. The director said that for the Netusil, “his demon was leading him somewhere else. I don’t know where he’d go, but I know he was in a lot of pain in the end” [2].

While the basic premise of the movie is the investigation of what may end up being a murder, it is more about the main characters and their obsessions and perversions and their effects on themselves and the world around them. Each of the main actors gives good performances. There have been complaints about Garfunkel’s performance as being too wooden, but that may have been the intent because of his role as a professor in psychoanalytics. The direction and filmmaking is excellent from director Nicholas Roeg, who has become known for keeping the story out of chronological order. He is known for a series of movies that may be considered cult films, including Performance, Walkabout, Don’t Look Now, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Eureka, and Insignificance. The director has a reputation for taking non acting musicians and placing them in lead roles, like he did with David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth.

The motion picture was controversial because it received an X rating for its sexual sequences, and was even described by its UK distribution company as "a sick film made by sick people for sick people” [3]. Despite this controversy, or even partly because of it, this film has gained a cult following. There are also fans of the director and the cast involved, and those that believe it’s a great film that just had some bad timing. The DVD distribution company Criterion has felt this way, releasing a DVD version of the film in their Criterion Collection which is "dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions of the highest technical quality" [4]. The title of the film was used by musician Jim O’Rourke as the title for an album he released in 1997. He also used some of Roeg’s other films as album titles. The film was also an inspiration for the band The Glove’s album called Blue Sunshine in 1983, which was a side project of The Cure’s Robert Smith and Siouxsie & the Banshees’ Steve Severin.

So if you’re a fan of the director, the cast and crew, or character dramas then you may enjoy this.

Works Cited

[1]	"IMDB," IMDB, 22 2 2016. [Online]. Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080408/?ref_=nv_sr_1. [Accessed 22 2 2016].
[2]	"Criterion," Criterion, 22 2 2016. [Online]. Available: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/385-bad-timing-the-men-who-didn-t-know-something. [Accessed 22 2 2016].
[3]	"theguardian," theguardian, 22 2 2016. [Online]. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2000/aug/15/artsfeatures.edinburghfilmfestival. [Accessed 22 2 2016].
[4]	"Criterion," Criterion, 22 2 2016. [Online]. Available: https://www.criterion.com/library. [Accessed 22 2 2016].