This movie reminds me a lot of a job I had back in the '80s. I was one of the few people in the city to have decent video equipment and was approached by a writer/director to do the camerawork on what he said was "going to take the world by storm." I thought throughout the entire process that he was obviously on some potent drugs because his "movie" was a concoction of dysjointed scenes and meaningless dialogue - but hey, I was being paid very handsomely for simply pointing my camera at where he wanted it pointed, so I was in no position to complain.
This drivel we're faced with today though, I DO have reason to complain - rather than getting paid to make it, I had to pay (in both time and money) to watch it.
Just as my experience nearly four decades ago, "An Imperfect Murder" AKA "The Private Life of a Modern Woman" has only a feintly discernible story, far too many meaningless shots, far too much meaningless dialogue, and direction which suggests it was a mission of love by someone with zero cinematic (or even home movie for that matter) experience.
All in all, this would be great if it was a 5-10 minute short - in that environment the visual dysjointedness and minuscule story would be perfect. As it stands though at 71 minutes, it is utterly abhorrent and would've been a waste of resources even if it was committed directly to video. Even the average 30-second TV advertisement has more substance.
The actors did what they needed to do - their performances can't be faulted, though their willingness to work for such a pathetic production should be condemned.
The only person to be praised here is whoever supplies James Toback with his drugs - they must me damned potent to have elicited such a deep and complete disconnection from reality.
