"For him, it seems at least as important as the money. By putting Fred at the start of the film, Van Sant hints that his presence won't be merely atmospheric. Sure enough, after Tony calls in and demands to go on the air with Fred, the d.j.'s urbane personality and quick thinking have real consequences; Fred puts his easygoing spontaneity to a high-stakes test by trying to mollify Tony and buy time to thwart his dangerous plan."
"The film draws a link between these journalistic versions and the unfolding action through the character of Linda Page (Myha'la), a TV reporter on the scene outside the office building. When her station prepares to dispatch another reporter to Tony's apartment complex, she's annoyed. She knows the place well and feels it's her story, so, when a producer asks her for the address, she rebuffs him and heads over herself, with a cameraman in tow."
Linda Page, a diligent TV reporter, insists on covering the scene outside the office building and personally goes to Tony's apartment complex with a cameraman. Fred, the opening d.j., becomes the central media presence as Tony, a fan, craves his attention and demands to go on air. Fred uses urbane personality and quick thinking to mollify Tony, improvising to buy time and attempt to thwart the dangerous plan. Executives and law-enforcement figures nervously consider legal responsibility and operational protocols when engaging a hostage-taker. The narrative hints at connections between improvisation, protocol formation, and modern surveillance technologies, but broader ambitions remain underdeveloped.
Read at The New Yorker
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