So this is another erotic thriller, except that actually it was on the Criterion Channel, so I believe you’re legally required to instead call it film noir.

And maybe you should, because it’s definitely got a noirish atmosphere. It’s so often night; it’s always hot (the title of the movie is apparently meant very literally, as everyone is covered in sweat at all times in this movie), the dialogue is heightened, the (often diegetic) music is sultry jazz, and the core relationship is passionately ill-advised.

This is a movie with a lot of crosses and double-crosses; I think they hold up logically, like you can diagram out what each character did and why, and it’ll work and make sense and all that. But I also think it’s one of those plots where the elaborate plan relies on everyone acting just so in a way that feels a little low-probability. But who knows, maybe everyone had backup plans that they never needed to use.

Really, though, I feel like this movie is a testament to… I don’t know what to call it, exactly. A directorial vision? (This is Lawrence Kasdan’s directorial debut after his screenplay work with George Lucas on Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark.) Even though this movie can absolutely be compared to Jade, Body of Evidence, etc, it just somehow doesn’t feel like it should be — it makes you want to think of Vertigo and Double Indemnity and all these atmospheric classics. Whatever it is that Kasdan is doing to evoke that mood, it works, and elevates the movie into something more than just a trashy sexy thriller. Recommended.