"Tom Blyth plays Lucas, an undercover officer suffering from depression after the death of his dad and breakup with his girlfriend to whom he confessed having feelings for men; his nervous unease is not made any easier by a loudmouthed homophobic uncle at family gatherings. The movie is interspersed with Lucas's anxiety-flash glimpses of his own life, significantly shot in the same dull, flat analogue video that the cops use to record incriminating evidence of their suspects in the toilets from a concealed camera."
"Plainclothes is heartfelt in many ways, but burdened with a colossally melodramatic ending connected with a very elaborate plot twist around a misunderstanding, like something from a 19th-century novel, concerning a lost or indeed purloined letter, the existence of which is not entirely plausible, considering that its author is supposedly anxious not to maintain contact with Lucas."
Set in early 1990s New York, Plainclothes follows Lucas, an undercover officer on a suburban mall entrapment team that prosecutes men cruising bathroom stalls. Lucas suffers depression after his father's death and a breakup triggered by his admission of same-sex attraction, and he endures homophobic family tensions. The film intercuts his anxiety flashes with the same dull analogue videotape used for evidence, linking video textures to shame and self-recognition. Lucas forms a romantic attachment to Andrew, a man he is meant to arrest, only to discover Andrew treats him as a fleeting encounter. The film culminates in an elaborate, melodramatic plot twist involving a doubtful lost letter.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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