Glasgow Film Festival has returned and so too has our coverage. The first film we are covering this year is the mysterious thriller, Gazer. Directed by Ryan J. Sloan and co-written by Sloan and his lead, Ariella Mastroianni, Gazer is an ever twirling story that has the viewer questioning everything.
Frankie (Ariella Mastroianni) is a young woman living with dyschronometria. Causing cerebellar dysfunction, dyschronometria makes it difficult for Frankie to remain focussed and perceive time. In order to retain some semblance of a hold on reality, Frankie’s life is dictated to her via a collection of cassette tape audio tracks. The results are varied, and sensing the condition is causing further debilitation, Frankie takes a risky job from a mysterious woman so that she can continue to provide for her daughter. But soon after completing the task, Frankie finds herself the victim of a series of dark consequences.
As the synopsis suggests, Gazer borrows quite a lot from Christopher Nolan’s Memento. But whereas Nolan’s film had a hazy sunshine sheen to it, Gazer unfolds in the liminal space of nondescript night. This helps to conjure an out-of-time sensation for the audience watching at home, giving them a little insight into Frankie’s condition that keeps her forever untethered from reality. The saxophone heavy twinkly jazzy score further enforces Frankie’s loose grasp on time.
With Gazer, Sloan is careful to build his story slowly; the result is a film that certainly fits into the classification of the slow-burn. At times this burn is a tad too meandering, but the performance of Mastroianni keeps the audience glued to the screen regardless. Having also helped co-write the project, Mastroianni had an extra layer of autonomy over Frankie; the result is a considered and compelling portrayal of the character’s plight. The performance requires a lot of quiet stillness for the role to work and Mastroianni effortlessly portrays Frankie’s slipping in and out of time. The condition could be exceptionally difficult to explain on screen without a serious amount of expositional dumping, but the combination of Mastroianni’s performance and some clever camerawork communicate it rather well.
As with Memento before it, it is the mystery that helps strengthen Gazer. The story here is far more complicated than Nolan’s film, perhaps a smidge too complicated. Given the slow-burn nature of Gazer, it is a film that requires keen attention as clues are hiding within each frame, the viewer simply has to be open to finding and interpreting them.
Gazer
Summary
Liminal night time spaces form the setting for Ryan J. Sloan’s enticing, but occasionally meandering, mysterious thriller.
Gazer was reviewed at Glasgow Film Festival 2025.
