This week’s pick for our Criterion film club was Chameleon Street, a 1989 independent film about an imposter who poses as a reporter, a doctor, and a lawyer, among other roles.
I thought this would be a film like Catch Me If You Can, the 2002 film about con artist Frank Abagnale Jr., or similar films. But that was completely wrong.
Wendell B. Harris Jr. wrote, directed, and starred in Chameleon Street, his first — and as of now his only — feature film. It’s an impressive debut. But everyone in the club was surprised that Harris hadn’t been able to turn it into a thriving film career, either as an actor, voice actor, or filmmaker.
The film is based on real-life con artist William Douglas Street Jr., with a bit of Erik Dupin mixed in. It’s so much more than just a con artist film.
The filmmaking is a mix of independent, first-film exuberance (quirky transitions between scenes, or slow-motion emphases), many well-photographed images, and some wooden acting. But it’s Harris himself who propels relatively low-budget Chameleon Street above the typical debut film.
Harris narrates the film in a way that reminded me of a Spalding Gray monologue. The narration addresses serious topics with acrobatic language that keeps you slightly off guard but always on the edge of a laugh. Harris’s sincerity and believability at Street carry the film. It’s a shame he and the film have been essentially invisible for the past 30 years.
Unexpected pleasures such as Chameleon Street are reasons to watch films you may never have heard of.