"Mugshot" Matt Mahurin

U.S.A.

Thursday and Friday, 6 p.m.

"Mugshot" is a strange, and sometimes beautiful, film with many things going for it. It's a first film for its writer-director-editor-cinematographer, Matt Mahurin, and a rousing start.

There are a few too many twists and turns in the story line, which basically is about a scam, double scam, even triple scam. A white photographer out to do a story on Harlem finds himself in an abandoned loft with no memory, wearing blood-smeared clothes and one shoe. He is "befriended" by Rumor, a black man, also a photographer, who chronicles his own life and what he knows about Chris, his alter ego (whom he has dubbed "Joe"), in celluloid.

Early on, Rumor sets the tone when he sardonically says, "If it's not too much hassle for me, I'll get you back to your rightful owner."

It's a gripping tale, though sometimes confusing. Mr. Mahurin comes to film from music videos, traces of which are very much in evidence in this film. I'm not sure whether or not to take this film as seriously as it may have been meant. I did find it disturbing to hear street-smart talk from Rumor's baby sister, who sounds as if she is ripe for gang life at the tender age of eight or nine.

There are lovely shots of much of New York, but the film doesn't show Harlem in a loving light, focusing as it does on its grimiest aspects.