With "Target", director Thomas G. Waites gives us the sometimes funny, sometimes sordid tale of Nick and Laura, a married couple living in a scenic waterside community in New Jersey (the name of which is a humorous jab at the name of the real-life filming location). Nick, an architect by profession, is consumed by his fetishistic desire to witness his wife having sex with another man. Nick even later suggests a suitable target that he believes she may have innocently flirted with on occasion. Laura is far less keen on the idea but eager to please her husband.
Enter Chip, a potential lover for Laura who is closer to Laura's age than Nick and, as it will turn out, a more physically satisfying lover than Nick. Nick is intrigued and perhaps threatened by this revelation. Despite some insecurity surfacing now and again, Chip inserts himself into their lives and preys upon the both of them in various ways, down to the point of making controlling demands regarding his participation in Nick's fantasies for his wife. Nick willingly obliges. A Heironymus Bosch painting on the wall of their house catches Chip's eye. The piece is titled "Hell", and suggests to the film's viewers that there may be something unsettling about this unconventional arrangement.
Offering more detail at this point would spoil the fun. As further events unfold we are treated to doses of sex, unexpected violence, betrayal, a rather humorous mishap concerning a misfired gun, and some extra characters appearing in the latter half of the film, at least one of whom might tug at the already precarious tightrope walk between control and chaos, between the familiar and the taboo, and along the often broken glass-laden path of revealed weaknesses. It doesn't help architect Nick that he can be seen as the "architect" of his own disruptive change. I'll leave it to you, dear reader, to discern for yourself who and how many "targets" get hit.
In the end the "Hell" painting is gone, perhaps a metaphor for how certain characters' heightened self-inflicted misery has now given way to more honest self-realization, in spite of a new and different kind of pain it might bring.
There are certainly layers to this triangle of love mixed with lust and emotional volatility. Screenwriter Waites, himself a veteran theater actor, has structured this tale much as would be expected if it were a stage play. It is dialogue-heavy, places emphasis on characterization as much as plot, and lends itself to post-viewing discussion. So dive in.
Worth a look, folks!
Enter Chip, a potential lover for Laura who is closer to Laura's age than Nick and, as it will turn out, a more physically satisfying lover than Nick. Nick is intrigued and perhaps threatened by this revelation. Despite some insecurity surfacing now and again, Chip inserts himself into their lives and preys upon the both of them in various ways, down to the point of making controlling demands regarding his participation in Nick's fantasies for his wife. Nick willingly obliges. A Heironymus Bosch painting on the wall of their house catches Chip's eye. The piece is titled "Hell", and suggests to the film's viewers that there may be something unsettling about this unconventional arrangement.
Offering more detail at this point would spoil the fun. As further events unfold we are treated to doses of sex, unexpected violence, betrayal, a rather humorous mishap concerning a misfired gun, and some extra characters appearing in the latter half of the film, at least one of whom might tug at the already precarious tightrope walk between control and chaos, between the familiar and the taboo, and along the often broken glass-laden path of revealed weaknesses. It doesn't help architect Nick that he can be seen as the "architect" of his own disruptive change. I'll leave it to you, dear reader, to discern for yourself who and how many "targets" get hit.
In the end the "Hell" painting is gone, perhaps a metaphor for how certain characters' heightened self-inflicted misery has now given way to more honest self-realization, in spite of a new and different kind of pain it might bring.
There are certainly layers to this triangle of love mixed with lust and emotional volatility. Screenwriter Waites, himself a veteran theater actor, has structured this tale much as would be expected if it were a stage play. It is dialogue-heavy, places emphasis on characterization as much as plot, and lends itself to post-viewing discussion. So dive in.
Worth a look, folks!