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Undertow (2004)
David Gordon Green tackles a thriller
I just returned from the North American premiere of David Gordon Green's new film Undertow two hours ago. I will not provide any spoilers. The film itself is about an imperfect Southern rural family that is shaken badly after the return of a purposely forgotten uncle named Deel. Deel harbours some resentment against his brother John for several reasons, and this resentment comes to a head over the only thing left to them by their deceased father. As things spiral quickly out of control, John's two sons must flee across the South in an aimless quest. Eventually everything comes to a head in a very dramatic baptismal scene and the film ends in such a way that their is a number of possibilities in terms of interpretation.
The film begins quickly in a sort of Dukes of Hazzard style credit sequence in which there is a lot of action. Green really goes over the top stylistically during the credits, and it does little but to distance the spectator from the action. After the opening credits, the direction is toned down immensely, and the story really begins. Some of the writing at the beginning seemed sort of cringe inducingly bad, but the film recovers nicely when Josh Lucas's Deel Munn shows up. David Gordon Green's trademarked lyrical style is really pushed to the background of this film in favour of the dramatic chase and adventure scenes. The children, who have figured so heavily in his previous films, are less easily identified with in Undertow. I'm not sure how much of the screenplay was written by each of the contributors, but Green's typically insightful and beautiful dialogue is also noticeably absent. As far as a David Gordon Green film, this does not rate as highly as either George Washington or All the Real Girls, but should be seen anyway. It is almost as if Green's desire was to crack the mainstream with this film, but it almost seems like a betrayal to Green's own fans (such as myself). The Secret Life of Bees should mark a return to his forté, as he is (so far at least) writing the screenplay himself. All in all, Undertow is a thriller with shades of humour and moderately interesting characters (I found Deel - the bad guy, the most absorbing) which is better than most junk at your local cineplex, but a disappointment for David Gordon Green purists. Too bad really.
Zeyda and the Hitman (2004)
TV version is typical movie of the week
The producer of this film is also my Film Production professor at the University of Western Ontario (UWO). He showed our class a nearly final cut of Zeyda and the Hit-man intended for television here in Canada. The film itself wasn't too bad, but for the television edit, absolutely awful (and unnecessary) bookends were added. The bookends (used to transistion to and from commercials) are a typical narrative tool wherein Danny Aiello's character is lecturing some "troubled youths" as to why a life of crime is a not-too-wise idea. Trouble is that these kids are awful actors, and their reactions to The Hit-man's story are absolute crap (wait for that applause...). Yes, the producer was my professor and a damn nice guy (bought the class beer after the last class), but his films are far from perfect.