Review: Wakefield

"Who hasn't had the impulse to put life on hold for a moment?" says Howard Wakefield (Bryan Cranston). Impulse yes, but very rarely the opportunity as he does in Robin Swicord's elegant but ultimately claustrophobic film adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's short story.

A Manhattan corporate lawyer, Howard is first seen as he embarks on his evening commute back to his home in Westchester when a power outage occurs. As he walks home through the dark and deserted streets, what was familiar feels alien. He reaches home but is distracted by a raccoon, which he follows into the second floor of the family garage. There, he gazes out the window at his home, watching his wife Diana (Jennifer Garner) and their two children preparing dinner. When Diana calls him, he ignores it, letting it go to voicemail, not wanting to deal with what he is sure will be her nagging inquiries. He thinks, let her wait a while as he remembers the fight they recently had.

It unfolds that the couple have been married for 15 years, that he stole her away from his best friend Dirk (Jason O'Mara), that he had soured on their marriage after a year, that his attraction had been renewed when she became pregnant with their first child, that their current lovemaking is fueled by games of sexual jealousy, games which she is tired of playing but which she goes along with for his sake. Howard Wakefield is not a man who will engender much sympathy; he never proves himself to be any more than a thoroughly self-centred, controlling and emotionally abusive figure.

Indeed, Howard's decision to extract himself from his life is a selfish albeit accidental act. Having fallen asleep in the garage's storage space, he awakens the next morning, wondering how he could ever explain his absence. So he decides to wait until Diana leaves for work, but things escalate. Diana has reported him missing to the police, his face is suddenly on the news, and he retreats into his new life as a squatter in his own garage, scrounging through trash for food and supplies, and disdainfully reasoning that he's a better husband and father now apart from his family.

As usual, Cranston delivers an excellent performance, fully embodying Howard in all his arrogant and repugnant glory yet managing to inject a modicum of humanity into the monster that Howard was, is, and always will be. It's difficult to assess the other performers since their roles deliberately opaque and one-dimensional as the film is faithfully and exclusively told through Howard's point of view. That limited perspective does quickly and irreparably undo the film. Despite some clever touches on Swicord's part and Cranston's efforts, Wakefield never really goes anywhere, merely trotting in place as a hollow portrait of an extremely bitter man.

Wakefield

Directed by: Robin Swicord

Written by: Robin Swicord; adapted from the short story by E.L. Doctorow

Starring: Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Garner, Beverly D'Angelo, Jason O'Mara, Ian Anthony Dale, Pippa Bennett-Warner