Diractors is an ongoing series in which Hassle writer Jack Draper examines films, new and old, whose directors are better known for their work in front of the camera.
It’s fitting that one of the more underseen films of the 21st century is brought to life from one of the more underutilized actors of his time. The thesis that films directed by movies stars are the extension of their presences on screen applies real perfectly here. On rewatch, perhaps oddly, I thought of The Cable Guy. Stiller’s movie was not openly embraced when it came out, as Carrey attempted to reject what audiences knew him as, turning himself into someone uncomfortable and unpredictable. Integrating an onscreen persona is made easier when one actor sees sees their peers as able to be manipulated on screen. Taken a step further, Bill Paxton, who is known to be decent on screen, makes himself into a real monster. It’s a basic idea, but the first time filmmaker finds profundity in how thin of a line it is between parenting and manipulating. This idea hasn’t really subsided; people like Peter Thiel or Stephen Miller sleep very well thinking they’re doing the right thing in life.
Frailty tells the story of dad and his boys who believe that he has been commanded by God to destroy demons disguised as people. These people might have deserved death, but for Paxton’s character, identified only as “Dad Meiks,” to be mentally disturbed enough to be the executioner is creepy enough to elevate the simple conceit. Paxton, the young boys, Powers Boothe, Matthew McConaughey, producer David Kirschner, and screenwriter Brent Hanley all have this Texan energy within them. All being from Texas, there’s a common understanding of southern loyalty and justice which is at its most powerful when tied to religion. Let alone just wanting to fulfill Paxton’s vision, there’s a profound sense of melancholy as Hanley’s script presented a world all too familiar for everyone involved. It reminds me of the early films of Jeff Nichols or David Gordan Green; instead, Paxton was influenced by folks from a classical horror age, like Robert Aldrich or Alfred Hitchcock. It’s real meat-and-potatoes suspense filmmaking that just works from a belief in the script to the heavy listing, with Paxton complementing that in where to put the camera.
It’s really impressive how creepy and tragic the movie feels without deploying any sort of violence. Keeping the perspective to the eyes of brothers, Fenton and Adam, lends itself to feeling so startled that you block out the more gruesome details. It boils down to the more devastating part of siblinghood, when someone you thought you can trust slips through your fingers into what was initially the enemy. It isn’t made out to be all that simple when Paxton dials down his onscreen persona just so, making it more reasonable that he be the same dad telling them to kill people with the same attitude as doing chores. I love this quote from Roger Ebert’s review of the movie: “Perhaps only a first-time director, an actor who does not depend on directing for his next job, would have had the nerve to make this movie. It is uncompromised. It follows its logic right down into hell. We love movies that play and toy with the supernatural, but are we prepared for one that is an unblinking look at where the logic of the true believer can lead?”
Frailty is a classic work of “I was unfamiliar with your game.” Paxton’s debut wasn’t a career-changing hit as it could’ve been; rather, it’s an interesting stepping stone in a career that never should be taken for granted. Of course, James Cameron never did, and his contributions to thrillers from the ’90s, such as such as A Simple Plan, One False Move, Trespass, or Twister, are unimpeachable. Bill Paxton had the build and demeanor of your dad’s friends who took a few too many hits during high school football days, but the genuine heart to make even Dad Meiks sympathetic.
Frailty
2001
dir. Bill Paxton
100 min.
Currently streaming on Tubi, Fubo, Hoopla, and the Roku Channel
