A Blast of Silence
A Blast of Silence
Directed by Allen Baron
Reviewed by Catherine MacLennan
Remembering in the black silence, you were born in pain…
Jazz, black & white early-60s New York, and a gravelly-voiced narrator telling the tale of a hit man who is all alone, and a little lonely – A Blast of Silence is all very noir but has a bit more to it. The 1961 film - directed, written and starring Allen Baron - was somewhat forgotten but is being rediscovered at film festivals, and now with its release on DVD from Criterion.
What’s nice about older films is not just how they give us the chance to see fashions from another era, or, in the case of this film, a New York of an earlier era, but they also give us momentary escape the filmic norms of current cinema. It’s noir, and it’s really noir. None of the smirking and joking that seems to be in every type of current mainstream (and some indie) film, regardless of genre.
Frankie Bono (played by Allen Baron) is a hitman on assignment. He’s a nondescript assassin in hat, coat, gloves, with a not-young tough-guy face. He tracks his prey, waiting in cars, in doorways, and loads his gun with special, fetishistic care. The narrator/alter-ego – tells us what Frankie is thinking, or should be thinking. He thinks he looks like a gentleman if his shoes are tied. You could kill him right now with pleasure.
He has to kill his mark during the Christmas season. Faceless in the crowd…Lose yourself in the Christmas spirit with the rest of the suckers. One of the film’s cinematographic highlights is watching Frank as he walks through the streets of New York, at nighttime, decked out in holiday lights. Snippets of Christmas carols are heard in the background. This contrast is most effective with an echo-y “Deck the Halls” - a creepy carolling of “'tis the season to be jolly” rings through the air as the determined murderer passes through Manhattan’s throngs and big gray edifices.
The DVD extras provide lots of entertaining and illuminating material – most notably the documentary “Requiem for a Killer: The Making of a Blast of Silence.” This film features interviews with Allen Baron, decades later – he goes back to all the locations in the film and tells amusing anecdotes about the making of film and discusses how specific locations had special meaning for him. He also reflects on his career as an artist/cartoonist, then sudden filmmaker, and then Hollywood director. At one point, he has a “what-if” moment – wondering if he should have stayed in New York (i.e. if he should have chosen a more independent rather than Hollywood career). Especially interesting for the viewers who just watched A Blast of Silence are his trips back to the film’s locations, such as his childhood memories of the desolate and mysterious scene of the fishing village shooting (it’s hard to believe it’s anywhere near New York City).
In A Blast of Silence, all the parts unite create the perfect dark mood piece: big old gray New York, the relentless downbeat narration of “tunnels like sewers,” the “kind of face you hate,” the sad flute, alone, then mixed in with jazz horns and car horns. At a Christmas party that Frank reluctantly attends, the film’s lone sweet soul declares that Frank needs someone he “could feel good with.” Someone who could make him “feel at home.” It’s the film’s open portrayal of loneliness and alienation that make it more interesting, rather than the genre killings, the hate, and the bongos.