Mat
02-24-2005, 11:51 PM
I saw a screening of this film tonight with David Gordon Green in attendance. It will be out on DVD sometime in April according to him, but if it is playing near you now, I strongly recommend seeing it in a theater.
Undertow may be classified as a “thriller,” and it is to a point. The basic premise of the film sounds like Home Alone: In the Woods, but even bringing Home Alone up in this review is an insult to the film. It’s a lyrical thriller by a director, David Gordon Green, who has made a few well-done lyrical pieces, but has never before this film utilized much of a plot in his films. George Washington was a junkyard meditation of life for a young boy in a Southern industrial wasteland. Beautifully filmed, Undertow takes the same sort of mood and tone but adds a plot to it. Before the screening, Green said he was trying to combine Treasure Island, the Hardy Boys, and In Cold Blood and give it a mystical quality that is revealed within his realistic style as a filmmaker. His own development thus far as a filmmaker reminds me of a young Scorsese, whose early films were totally his visceral memories of youth filmed in an inspired, ever-involving style. Undertow is Green’s best, most cinematically pleasing effort yet, and shows the evolution of filmmaker from one that plays around with tones and cinematography to one who can make a complete film with the same freedom and playfulness as before.
One of the opening shots of Undertow is the most gut wrenching shots in recent memory. It comes completely by surprise and the audience gasps in that John Cleese-tone “JEESUS CHRIST!” Warning you about the shot is no warning at all, and it represents a shout out to the audience by Green that this will not be a purely emotive piece of reflection and guilt as his past films are. Essentially, you get your meat with your potatoes this time. The story revolves around the arrival of Deel Munn (Josh Lucas) to his brother, John (Dermont Mulroney), and son’s, Chris (Jamie Bell) and Tim (Devon Alan), ranch in the sticks of Georgia. It revolves around a treasure of Mexican gold given to John by his father, Deel’s obsession with getting it, and Chris and Tim’s odyssey away from him. On their journey, they encounter various other societal outcasts who don’t feel like the oddballs that traditionally fill these characters. They have their quirks but are not so far removed from reality that we can’t recognize with them. The plot though is not so tightly paced that it feels like a Fugitive-esque chase through the backwoods of Georgia. At times his thoughtful meditative state, set to the wonderfully bizarre music of Phillip Glass, shines through but never at the sacrifice of character. Green cares nothing of shot continuity or logic, as long as he can get across character, mood, and imagery, and boy, does that imagery shine.
Every location in Green’s film was found on some godforsaken backroad in the American South and add to the dark tone of the piece. There was no real money invested in set design, but it shines in Green’s wonderful eye for grotesque locations. The two best locations in the film are the abandoned junkyard and the homeless camp in an abandoned factory. Originally wanting the scenes to be filmed in an Ewok-esque location, Green’s junkyard is a mangle of macabre and machinery. Towering piles of derelict cars and unrecognizable machinery make for a fantastical hideout for the youngsters, and the homeless camp with it’s vaulted, skylighted ceiling is another terrific location. This mesh of realism and mysticism really shines through in the locations.
The treasure in the film was supposedly given to John’s father by Charon, the fairyman to the underworld via the river Styx. Green’s Undertow heightens the realism of the very real peril and creates a quasi-mysticism along the way. His relatively unpolished storytelling style is something that is greatly missing from modern American film, where most thrillers are slick off the assembly line, lacking any emotional resonance with the audience. Undertow treats the audience with a first rate thriller that sacrifices nothing, substance or style, in being successful.
A
Undertow may be classified as a “thriller,” and it is to a point. The basic premise of the film sounds like Home Alone: In the Woods, but even bringing Home Alone up in this review is an insult to the film. It’s a lyrical thriller by a director, David Gordon Green, who has made a few well-done lyrical pieces, but has never before this film utilized much of a plot in his films. George Washington was a junkyard meditation of life for a young boy in a Southern industrial wasteland. Beautifully filmed, Undertow takes the same sort of mood and tone but adds a plot to it. Before the screening, Green said he was trying to combine Treasure Island, the Hardy Boys, and In Cold Blood and give it a mystical quality that is revealed within his realistic style as a filmmaker. His own development thus far as a filmmaker reminds me of a young Scorsese, whose early films were totally his visceral memories of youth filmed in an inspired, ever-involving style. Undertow is Green’s best, most cinematically pleasing effort yet, and shows the evolution of filmmaker from one that plays around with tones and cinematography to one who can make a complete film with the same freedom and playfulness as before.
One of the opening shots of Undertow is the most gut wrenching shots in recent memory. It comes completely by surprise and the audience gasps in that John Cleese-tone “JEESUS CHRIST!” Warning you about the shot is no warning at all, and it represents a shout out to the audience by Green that this will not be a purely emotive piece of reflection and guilt as his past films are. Essentially, you get your meat with your potatoes this time. The story revolves around the arrival of Deel Munn (Josh Lucas) to his brother, John (Dermont Mulroney), and son’s, Chris (Jamie Bell) and Tim (Devon Alan), ranch in the sticks of Georgia. It revolves around a treasure of Mexican gold given to John by his father, Deel’s obsession with getting it, and Chris and Tim’s odyssey away from him. On their journey, they encounter various other societal outcasts who don’t feel like the oddballs that traditionally fill these characters. They have their quirks but are not so far removed from reality that we can’t recognize with them. The plot though is not so tightly paced that it feels like a Fugitive-esque chase through the backwoods of Georgia. At times his thoughtful meditative state, set to the wonderfully bizarre music of Phillip Glass, shines through but never at the sacrifice of character. Green cares nothing of shot continuity or logic, as long as he can get across character, mood, and imagery, and boy, does that imagery shine.
Every location in Green’s film was found on some godforsaken backroad in the American South and add to the dark tone of the piece. There was no real money invested in set design, but it shines in Green’s wonderful eye for grotesque locations. The two best locations in the film are the abandoned junkyard and the homeless camp in an abandoned factory. Originally wanting the scenes to be filmed in an Ewok-esque location, Green’s junkyard is a mangle of macabre and machinery. Towering piles of derelict cars and unrecognizable machinery make for a fantastical hideout for the youngsters, and the homeless camp with it’s vaulted, skylighted ceiling is another terrific location. This mesh of realism and mysticism really shines through in the locations.
The treasure in the film was supposedly given to John’s father by Charon, the fairyman to the underworld via the river Styx. Green’s Undertow heightens the realism of the very real peril and creates a quasi-mysticism along the way. His relatively unpolished storytelling style is something that is greatly missing from modern American film, where most thrillers are slick off the assembly line, lacking any emotional resonance with the audience. Undertow treats the audience with a first rate thriller that sacrifices nothing, substance or style, in being successful.
A