Where's Marlowe? (1998) Reviews

Daniel Pyne directed and co-scripted (with John Mankiewicz) this satirical look at private eyes, originally planned as a TV series but instead later expanded into a feature. Before a switch to color, the film begins with a black and white prologue in which NYU film-school graduates Wilton Crawley (Mos Def) and A.J. Edison (John Livingston) bore the small audience at the Utica Township Film Festival with their 180-minute film about NYC water-supply sources. Realizing a stronger subject is needed for their next documentary, they focus on L.A. private investigators Joe Boone (Miguel Ferrer) and Murphy (John Slattery) and the agency's secretary Angela (Allison Dean) -- captured in the usual student-film techniques of hand-held subjective shots (plus Super 8 when their regular camera breaks). As the filmmakers shoot, they soon become intrigued by an unsolved case and look for a solution. Shown at the 1998 Mill Valley Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi