The Parallax View (1974) ****

The Parallax View (1974), Alan J. Pakula's second film in his so-called "Paranoia Trilogy" (which includes 1971's Klute (which I have yet to see but will be watching soon) and 1976's All The President's Men (my blogpost here)), is an exceptionally made thriller that comments on American ideas and ideals, the search for truth, the real truths behind the facade of normalcy, the violence inherent in the history of America (past and present), and the dangers of power—without ever offering answers. 

The film avoids dating itself or coming across as heavy-handed by creating a mythical reality, one that doesn't name-check actual specific historical events, but rather presents a fictional story that feels very real. A nod to the Kennedy assassination in the preamble leads to the film's Space Needle-set opening where a politician is assassinated. Warren Beatty plays a reporter who, years later, becomes embroiled in an investigation into a shadowy organization funding and facilitating political assassinations called The Parallax Corporation.

While there are traces of Hitchcock in TPV, Pakula has that unmistakable earthiness absent from the precision of The Master of Suspense's work. There are a number of exciting, tense, and wonderfully staged set pieces but there is always a kind of loose quality to them. Every time something shocking happens it arrives at a completely unexpected moment, whether through the editing or the pacing. The whole film plays out this way, continuously offering satisfyingly surprising turns. 

Even though the plot itself seems fairly straightforward and the film has an almost episodic nature, Pakula makes unconventional choices in the presentational aspects—the way the camera lingers, the framing of shots, the way space is used, and how people figure into those spaces (credit Gordon Willis' expert cinematography as a big reason why the film works so well). And then there is that unforgettable "recruitment montage" for The Parallax Corporation—an intense sequence that Pakula subjects the audience to the entirety of.

Recommended for fans of other conspiracy films such as the aforementioned Pakula "paranoia" pictures, 

Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (released the same year, my blogpost here), and John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate (1962) (my review here).

You can find my Alan J. Pakula Feature Films Ranked list here.