| UNDERTOW |
 2004 - USADirector: David Gordon Green - Reviewed by Vickie
The story, which is (in typical Green fashion) character-driven and somewhat slow-moving, follows two brothers whose lives are turned upside down when their long-lost uncle shows up with an axe to grind. Chris (Jamie Bell) is a quiet teenager who routinely finds himself being picked up at the sheriff’s office by his none-too-pleased father (Dermot Mulroney). His younger brother, Tim (Devon Alan), is an exercise in neuroses. He eats paint and dirt and assorted non-edible substances and then throws up. A lot. The three of them live in relative seclusion in the middle of nowhere in a Georgia bayou. They keep to themselves and border on being hermits. But, one day, in swoops long-lost Uncle Deel (Josh Lucas), who’s been released from prison and has come to collect on a family inheritance that he feels is owed him. Needless to say, things don’t go so well. Soon, Chris and Tim are scrambling to escape Deel’s ruthless fury, sending the pair on the run for their lives. Undertow is kind of like two films in one. The first half takes place on the homestead and sets up the characters, while the second half takes place on the run, as the characters are forced to rely on instinct as a means of survival. Green handles each half really well, and the story never suffers as a result of its change in direction, tone or location. The beginning is just as interesting as the end. Since the film is driven by its complex characters, it comes as no surprise that the actors at its core must be solid. And they are. Both Bell (best known for Billy Elliot) and Alan are excellent, creating multi-layered, resourceful, real characters. Josh Lucas is frightfully creepy as Deel and manages to be both charming and menacing at the same time…which, I suppose, makes him even scarier. He’s like Matthew McConaughey’s evil twin here. Like its humid, hazy locale, Undertow has an almost hypnotic quality. It lulls you, washes over you and makes you uncomfortable on occasion. Like The Machinist it has a sense of atmosphere that provides an anchor for everything that happens onscreen. You can feel the heat, the dirt, the sweat, the desperation. And, like Girls, it marks another fine film for David Gordon Green. |
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There is a moment within the first five or six minutes of this latest
drama from director David Gordon Green (All the Real Girls) that
will, in an instant, galvinize the audience. It involves a boy, a jump
from a rooftop and a rusty nail sticking up from a board below. At the
screening I attended, the resulting moment literally made much of the
audience gasp or shriek in response. Cool.
