Character Study Walks Along Minimalist ‘Wire’

Jim Sikora’s taut neo-noir “Bullet on a Wire” is one of those minimalist, deadpan tales of the collision of character and fate that is always so satisfying, particularly amid a clutter of mindless big-budget pictures. It’s a small gem, with nothing wasted, everything sharply observed and expressed cinematically with cool aplomb.

Talk about cause and effect. A stocky, bespectacled man (Jeff Strong) wearing a suit, tie and topcoat enters a Chicago neighborhood cafe, notices a woman sitting at the bar but heads directly to the men’s room to put drops in his eyes. (We later learn that the unflattering glasses, which give him an older, nerdy look, are only for effect; wearing them, despite his contact lenses, gives him an image of himself that boosts his confidence for making his phone pitches as an insurance salesman.)

Once back in the barroom, he’s so disappointed that the woman has left that he heads for a county hospital where his attractive sister (Paula Killen), a busy, conscientious nurse, has little time to console him but assures him that she loves him and that she’ll make dinner for him the following night. Strong’s Raymond Brody, an ex-con with a short fuse, is not so easily assuaged.

While his sister has momentarily left her office, in a moment of extreme pique, he grabs a memo pertaining to tests taken by one of her patients, a young woman (Lara Phillips), and dials the number on it. When the woman’s mother answers, Brody tells her that her daughter not only is pregnant but has also tested HIV-positive. (The first is most likely to turn out to be true but not the second.) The consequences for Phillips’ Tanya are drastic.

Raymond and Tanya, so flawlessly portrayed by Strong and Phillips, are nondescript in the utmost, but there’s lots more to them than meets the eye. Initially, we get the impression that Raymond is merely a nut, but he’s actually a man who was once religious but furious about his fate in life.

Tanya is in love with a shiftless guy (David Yow) who’s only too quick to exploit the predicament in which she now finds herself. Tanya is a woman, however, not only of unexpected intelligence and depth of character but also of a compassionate nature. While darkly humorous, “Bullet on a Wire” surprises us with its concern for redemption rather than revenge.

You find it sadly ironic that the lives of Raymond and Tanya intersected in such a calamitous way, because they are actually right for each other--but they probably would never have crossed paths otherwise. Sikora, who co-wrote the script with Joe Carducci, tells their story beautifully in black-and-white, perfect for expressing the drabness of Raymond’s and Tanya’s lives.

Expressing most effectively the shifting moods of “Bullet on a Wire” is the spare, evocative music of the Denison-Kimball Trio and the Handsome Family. “Bullet on a Wire” delivers just the kind of experience you hope for from a low-budget independent feature.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: language, adult themes and situations; some violence.

‘Bullet on a Wire’

Jeff Strong: Raymond Brody

Lara Phillips: Tanya Strickland

David Yow: Ed

Paula Killen: Norma Brody

A Provisional presentation. Producer-director Jim Sikora. Screenplay by Joe Carducci, Sikora. Cinematographer John Terendy. Editor Chris Butler. Music the Denison-Kimball Trio, the Handsome Family. Running time: 1 hour, 24 minutes.

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