Primetime

The screenplay for “Primetine” was a real bombshell. Robert Pattinson said as much at the London Film Festival. This is a major compliment for Ajon Singh, who wrote the screenplay. Pattinson adds that no one had yet got their hands on it to turn it into a film (a series would have been more difficult, according to a TV programme and its presenter Chris Hansen: they were hunting down paedophiles). They were arousing suspicion with newspaper adverts. They set up a scene with hidden cameras. An adult actor, capable of playing the part of a minor without looking ridiculous, acted as the decoy. Once the nature of the exchange was clear, they would intervene, report the offender, and before handing him over to the police, they would question him: a quarter of an hour of highly sensationalist television. Until Hansen himself was caught having dinner with a pretty girl who wasn’t his wife. In Italy, a “trouser sin” is no big deal; it’s just fodder for gossip. In puritanical America, such a slip-up can destroy a career. “To Catch a Predator” aired from 2004 to 2007, much to the satisfaction of the broadcaster and the self-righteous. The programme attracted millions of viewers. Lance Oppenheim, a thirty-year-old documentary-maker making his feature-length debut, has some good ideas. He makes good use of lighting, including coloured lights (after all, we’re in a TV studio). His direction is energetic, switching rapidly from one camera to another. Excellent ideas, which ultimately end up taking precedence over the investigation.