Frame 232

What if the Zapruder film was not the only footage taken of President Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas on 11/22/63? That provocative notion is the best thing about this uneven thriller, which has a powerful beginning. Margaret Baker, having played hooky from her job at a doctor’s office to see the president on his fateful visit to Dallas, captures the shooting on her 8 mm movie camera. Traumatized by what she’s witnessed, Margaret delays getting her film developed, but when she finally does, she’s stunned to see a second shooter. Fearful of the repercussions of her discovery, she leaves the footage in a safe-deposit box, which is opened in the present by her daughter, Sheila. Sheila soon finds herself in the crosshairs of those who want to suppress this proof of a conspiracy, and she must enlist the aid of a young billionaire who uses his fortune to investigate historical mysteries. By the conclusion, Mara (Wave) has dissipated the story’s initial energy by resorting to countless genre clichés. (July)