Director Lance Oppenheim creates a grim and grubby world in Primetime, steeped in the sweat and compromised ambitions of its characters. But below the film’s grimy surface is a sharp examination of the personal and professional concessions people make in pursuit of success.
Inspired by real events, Primetime follows American television presenter Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson), whose NBC reality TV series To Catch a Predator became a ratings sensation between 2004 and 2007.
The film is set in 2006 as Hansen, working with producer Andie Bender (Merritt Wever), oversees sting operations. In the set-up, men are lured into houses believing they are meeting underage children, only to be confronted by Hansen and his cameras.
Among those recruited is aspiring actor Dan Plum (Skyler Gisondo) as TV bait, whose involvement offers another perspective on the enterprise. Pattinson’s performance as Hansen carefully reveals the deep insecurity beneath his relentless ambition. Constantly comparing himself with more successful figures, Hansen is consumed by a desire for fame and recognition.
At times Pattinson appears almost reptilian, observing those around him with a cold, calculating intensity. Hanson’s commitment to exposing wrongdoing becomes increasingly difficult to separate from his determination to make a name for himself. There is something distinctly predatory about his pursuit of success, troubling the neat division between predator and prey on which To Catch a Predator depends.
Wever is excellent as the harried Bender, whose commitment to the project and qualms about its ethics seem curiously dependent on its success. She treads the line between the pressures of keeping the programme afloat and the ease with which moral reservations give way to professional ambition.
Gisondo is impressive as “Decoy Dan”, bringing a tightly controlled earnestness to an aspiring actor who sees the sting operations as a career opportunity. His vulnerability during the first encounter also exposes reality TV’s potential to cause harm.
Blurring the lines
Oppenheim’s background in documentary filmmaking informs Primetime’s visual approach. The security footage and VHS-style imagery lend the film a rough authenticity which evokes the television of the mid 2000s.
Period details, such as popular drama Lost as a ratings rival, reinforce this sense of time and place. And the curious appearance of former NBC executive Jeff Zucker as himself, among a cast of actors portraying real-life figures, further blurs the distinction between fiction and documentary.
The surveillance footage also places viewers in the uncomfortable position of watching the sting operations unfold, making us participants in the spectacle of exposure. To Catch a Predator effectively appointed itself judge and jury, voyeuristically subjecting suspected sexual predators to public humiliation in the name of protecting children.
Oppenheim explores the uneasy morality of an enterprise whose targets draw hatred and anger even as its methods invite scrutiny. By drawing us into these encounters, he raises questions about our own responsibility as viewers. We are, after all, consuming the very entertainment whose ethics the film calls into question.
It has been a remarkable year for Oppenheim, whose Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything, co-directed with Nathan Fielder, has become an unlikely US box-office hit. The film took more than $45 million (£34m) in its first ten days. Both films suggest a fascination with controversial public figures and the uncomfortable questions surrounding their pursuit of success.
In Primetime, this produces a seedy, unsettling portrait of ambition, anchored by excellent performances and a distinctive visual approach. Its interest in the people behind the cameras extends to those watching, implicating the audience in the spectacle it depicts.
The film leaves us to consider how easily the pursuit of justice can become a form of exploitation, and what responsibility we bear for the entertainment we consume.