Primetime by Lance Oppenheim (2026)

Watched by Matthew Donlan

It is 2006. Men in uniforms stand in rows before a stage. Their leader, beneath an American flag, speaks from the podium about the justice which will be done today. They are flanked by weapons, machinery and vehicles designed to capture and kill. And off to the side are cameras, provided with exclusive access to record this momentous day.

We're not in the Middle East, but at the police station for Murphy, Texas. A sting operation is being prepared to capture an accused child predator who has been engaging in explicit chat online with a minor. The minor though is actually a member of the Perverted-Justice vigilante group, created to lure men out of their homes. The camera-crew are with NBC's How To Catch a Predator.

Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) is likely giddy with excitement but his steely face gives no hint. This is his war on terror. Hansen's crusade would be the biggest story in America if it weren't for Stone Phillips' work covering the events of Iraq for NBC. How do you topple a leader? With shock and awe, and Hansen will dominate primetime one way or another.

The debut fiction feature from documentarian Lance Oppenheim is less a biography and more a surreal fever dream. With highly suggestive lighting, nightmare visions and a hypnotic score, Primetime puts you in the mind of the hunter, doubting what is real and what you have convinced yourself is real. These elements create a constant stirring of emotions and morality as the film rides adrenaline into unease. You see in real time how a bandwagon is constructed and how ethical boundaries are crossed in pursuit of a feeling of importance. It also insinuates how crossing these lines push you closer to becoming the thing you hate.

Oppenheim's Primetime (amongst other things) is an allegory for America's post-9/11 turn to hyper-surveillance, ultra-vigilance and the independent pursuit for revenge. As a parallel to George Bush, Hansen leads with retribution and a perverted sense of justice. He builds a case on morally-dubious grounds, with evidence often collected through coercion and entrapment. The people around him yield to his gut instinct, throwing reason and the pre-established rule of law aside. He is on a war path and, to quote the man himself, "you're either with me or with them."

The American comparison doesn't have to end there though. While Hansen, his producer Andie (Merritt Wever), decoy-Dan (Skyler Gisondo) and the rest of the team around him could equate to Bush, Cheney, Rice and other members of the US Executive branch, the ensemble also represents the international system of law. Which raised the question, if Hansen is America, then who is Australia?

The first potential is Hansen's producer Andie who enables him to go all the way. She is as dogged in the pursuit of the story as Hansen. Australia was just as hungry for action as America, but didn't carry as much sway in decision-making as a producer would. Perhaps instead, the UK is Andie.

Dan Plum is the young actor employed by the production to play the child victim during sting operations. They present innocently and are perhaps naively unaware of their role in the whole campaign. Coached (or maybe groomed) by Hansen for the role, Dan is starstruck and just happy to be involved. I think this makes Dan a stand in for Poland.

Then there is Xavier Von Erck (Matthew Maher), the founder of Perverted-Justice and online vigilante who chats to these men on the internet. He's not formally part of the media, and certainly not part of law enforcement, yet is a bridge for both. He spends hours of his day in dark rooms, concocting heinous hypothetical scenarios and engaging in explicit chat while pretending to be a child. He is haunted by the sound of dial-up modems and gets a kick when one of the men bite his lure. He is both a pathetic and essential character who is stepped on by those senior to him, but always listened to when he says what Hansen wants to hear.

This is Australia; America's ever-loyal lackey.

Primetime tackles its thorny subject matter with thorny techniques. Its confident use of visual metaphor is extremely effective in recreating the fever dream of a post-9/11 world. The film invites you to drink the Kool-Aid and experience the horror from the inside.

Primetime is screening now in cinemas across Sydney.

Pick of the Week
Ken Russell's The Devils is back on screens with a 4K restoration! It is having a limited run on Sydney screens, with sessions at Hayden Orpheum, the Ritz, Dendy and Palace.

New Releases - THURSDAY 29 Oct.

• Primetime (Lance Oppenheim)
• Pressure (Anthony Maras)
• Gentle Monster (Marie Kreutzer)
• Sundays (Alauda Ruiz de Azúa)