Mindhunter: Pilot observations

by filmbub

An extended dialogue during a live hostage situation, which ends in a bloody, quick fashion is the opening to Fincher’s latest endeavor, Mindhunter. These 3 or so minutes prior to his trademark stylized opening credit sequence seems to sum up how the series will feel in tonality and execution: measured and real.

All the critics and elitists have to be ecstatic that the first chapter has echoes of Fincher’s critical darling, Zodiac. Much of the style and subject matter, yes, may appear to be a retread, but it is often forgotten how Zodiac had experimental and dense qualities to it. Much of Fincher’s following works like Benjamin Button, The Social Network, and Dragon Tattoo had such precision and craftsmanship that it made Zodiac feel protozoan by comparison. Mindhunter has an edge and refinement on it that has come with Fincher’s mastery at telling stories in the 10 years that have filled in between the original flagellate and the full-bodied organisms we now see.

I’ve heard it said that all directing and filmmaking boils down to figuring out how to telegraph a scene as simple as two people, sitting in a coffee shop, talking. How fitting then that much of the pilot is characters in groups of two, talking through the same thematic point of this show: what makes killers tick?

One of the earliest conversations takes place in bar, between our lead, Holden, and another FBI agent, lamenting how these new breed of killers seem to reflect the madness happening in society as a whole (a la, Watergate, Vietnam, etc). Is there any surprise that there is some resonance with current times?

Holden, as a protagonist, is an interesting foil to the world of the FBI and counter-culture of the 70s – many of the individuals he ends up in discussions with are tired cynics. By comparison, he is incredibly naive and shockingly earnest. In a Fincher world, this translates to powerlessness. But that’s the interesting thing – we learn with him and through him as each nugget leads to another and another, and he is not crushed by the walls that rise up before him – he merely vaults over them. And in spite of Holden being almost philosophically anti-Fincher by design, it would be nauseating if he were as cynical and arrogant as the rest of the characters.

While the premise seems almost too straightforward, there is clearly enough complexity underneath to pull us along. On the surface, it’s criminal procedural. Behind that facade is a multi-layered plumbing of the darkest depths of the human psyche.

What is engaging about it all, is what could be trite material is uplifted by not only the excellent production values that comes with Fincher, but with real and grounded characters struggling to answer a question that even over 40 years later, may not have an answer.