THE HOLE

 

Welcome to Joe Dante Day.  This is director Joe Dante’s latest film (his first in seven years) and it is also in 3D (real 3D, not post-processed!).  This is a throwback to the 80’s “family horror films” (like “Poltergeist”), which is a more of a PG-style horror film – something that will scare the kids and give them a good time, but not enough that they wont sleep for a week.  The film is about a mother and her two children who move from the city to a quiet country town.  In the basement of their house, the two boys find and open a door that is heavily bolted closed on the floor.  When they look inside, they discover that there is a hole under the door, or a bottomless pit if you will.  It turns out though, that if you look inside the hole, your greatest fears come to life and attempt to take your life.  The only way to destroy the menace is to confront your fears.   

The movie consists of the fears of the two boys, as well as that of the teenage girl who lives next door to them.  The fears come in the guise of old friend who committed suicide when she was a kid, an abusive father and the horror film staple, the always creepy clowns.  It is all done very well, with the 3D more of a modest achievement rather than anything spectacular, but personally I prefer my horror with a darker edge, but for what it is, “The Hole” is a great example of a horror film from a by-gone era.

3 Stars - Viewed at the 2010 Melbourne International Film Festival

 

THE KILLER INSIDE ME

This was such a strange film.  It is directed by Michael Winterbottom, a director that rarely repeats himself and often goes from genre to genre without missing a beat.  He could never be typecast in the types of films that he makes, however whenever he explores a subject matter, he always tackles it head-on and takes it to the extreme.  For example, his movie “9 Songs” which is an exploration on just how much sex means in a relationship, he got his actors to perform non-simulated sex acts.   

For “The Killer Inside Me”, he is exploring violence as well as the reasons behind why men commit such violent acts (especially towards women).  This film already has a reputation for a scene where an unsuspecting Jessica Alba gets brutally beaten to the point where her face is severely swollen and her jaw bone exposed.  Regarding this scene, as brutal as it is, I think editing plays a big part of the impact and I do not think it is anywhere near as violent (that may be the wrong word, maybe graphic is better) as the “fire-hydrant scene” in “Irreversible” which it often gets compared to.  

The film is about Lou Ford, played by Casey Affleck (who, as good as he is in the role, unfortunately mumbles a lot of his lines), who goes out to a ranch to inform the prostitute (Alba) living there that she has three days to get out of town, but instead ends up falling in love with her.  The two of them come up with a plan to blackmail one of her client’s father, who happens to be a very rich and influential man in Central City (if the fact got out that his son had been with this sort of woman, it would be a blight on his reputation).  When it comes time for the plan to be put into action, it is amazing because everybody thinks that something else is happening to what really is, with only Lou knowing the true extent of his plan, which turns out to be motivated by revenge (as well as his bloodlust for violence) and not blackmail.   

By the end of this scene, two people end up dead by Lou’s hands and the rest of the movie has him dealing with the repercussions. As the bodies continue to pile up, the noose gets tighter, as the town begins to see Lou for what he really is and not the clean-cut nice-guy Sheriff he presents himself as.  As mentioned above, there are two brutally violent scenes directed towards women in this film, which happen due to the strange way Lou’s brain seems to work.  He always ends up involving the women in his life in his plans to take advantage of others (but in violent ways.  For example, he bashes the hell out of his girlfriend just so he can frame a person on his trail as a rapist).  

Whether or not the film’s exploration into why he performs these violent acts is valid or not is up to the individual viewer, but it seems to be suggesting that it is linked to and fueled by his love of S&M sex (dominance of women) which began, disturbingly, at a young age with his mother.  Overall, it is an interesting film that is worth checking out (but be warned about the graphic violence), but by the end of it, it does get a little silly and less believable. 

3.5 Stars - Viewed at the 2010 Melbourne International Film Festival

 

ADRIFT

This is a film that I wanted to love, but the more that it went on, the less interested I became.  To be fair, the first twenty minutes of the film are quite good, as is the final ten, but everything in between is just dull.  It is about a newlywed couple living in Hanoi.  The husband never gives his wife any attention especially sexually, to the point that she ends up accepting a stranger’s invitation for a weekend away at Halong Bay.  Little does the wife know that his invitation has been set up by her jealous (and maybe lesbian) best friend in an attempt to break up her marriage. 

The highlight of the film is definitely the Vietnamese scenery.  As soon as the film started, I could just feel Vietnam, especially with the constant noise of the traffic.  The film is set during the rainy season, so it was a bit different from our honeymoon which was during the dry season.  Once they travel to Halong Bay, the scenery continues to impress, but the story unfortunately loses steam.  Another problem that I had was that the cinematography was just too dark, making it hard to sometimes see what was actually happening.  Overall, I was pleased that this film gave me an opportunity to “feel” Vietnam again, but the dramatic arc of the narrative left me, ultimately, disappointed.

2.5 Stars - Viewed at the 2010 Melbourne International Film Festival