David Gordon Green's "Undertow"

[SHAFTR]

Undertow is DGG's Malick influence fused with the french new wave.  I'm still undecided on my thoughts of the film.  I can say this:

I enjoyed the film.
It is certainly not a masterpiece.

french new wave?  how's so?

the freeze frames a la Truffaut

[NEON MERCURY]

aaaaahhh yes, the masterpeice comes home
on april 26 we will finally all have a chance to own this masterpeice...

[Pozer]

Own? how bout finally SEE.

[matt35mm]

Yes, so I finally did get to see this.

I enjoyed it.  It's a genre movie, no doubt, and is more limited than Green's previous movies.  But all of Green's movies require more than one viewing to work properly.  During the first viewing, because you don't know what happens, you're always going to wonder what happens next.  That's not the way a David Gordon Green movie works.  The main premise behind each of his movies is to spend a couple of hours getting absorbed in a mood, an atmosphere, and just have a good time there.  Of course every movie has mood and atmosphere, but few do it as well or focus on it as much as Green does.

Anyway, after watching it the second time with commentary by Green and Jamie Bell, I appreciated it even more.  It's not as powerful as Green's two previous films, but it still really works.  I don't think it's necessarily supposed to be as powerful, and more of just a good time at the movies with this suspenseful on-the-run movie.  It's not super duper suspenseful, but it's still good fun.

And you should all hear .  It comes on at the end credits of Undertow.  Interesting fact: Pat Healy, who plays a mildly retarded machanic in the movie, improv'd some mumbling/singing about a "monster in the canyon."  Green decided to make that a theme of the movie, and got two bands to each do a song around that theme.  Two completely different songs, just with the same theme.  And this is the version that plays at the end credits, done by the band Pyramid (it's called "Monster in the Canyon").  It's a new favorite of mine already.  It's a free download, so don't wait to get it.

[Weak2ndAct]

Yep.  It's a masterpiece.  The 'scene' (you know, the one where the shit goes down) was brilliantly done.  The use of the mirror-- just that one fucking shot-- took it from what could have been a standard plot mechanism, to something incredibly tragic and disturbing.  It's crazy to me how just one little touch like that can make an image all the more powerful.  The film-nerd in me would have liked to have seen more aesthetic craziness throughout (in the opening, when the cop cars hit the mud and freeze-framed, I howled and instantly wanted to watch 'The Parallax View's chase scene), but that's as far as complaints get-- and I'm sure it would have been a disservice to the story anyway.

[SiliasRuby]

All these positive posts make me really want to see this quite badly.

[Pubrick]

but who benefits from reading that?

[Thrindle]

Yep.  It's a masterpiece.  The 'scene' (you know, the one where the shit goes down) was brilliantly done.  The use of the mirror-- just that one fucking shot-- took it from what could have been a standard plot mechanism, to something incredibly tragic and disturbing.  It's crazy to me how just one little touch like that can make an image all the more powerful.  The film-nerd in me would have liked to have seen more aesthetic craziness throughout (in the opening, when the cop cars hit the mud and freeze-framed, I howled and instantly wanted to watch 'The Parallax View's chase scene), but that's as far as complaints get-- and I'm sure it would have been a disservice to the story anyway.

SPOILER




Yeah, yeah, whatever.  For those who just want to WATCH a movie and ENJOY it, The Undertow was a major disappointment.  I love DGG, however, this movie was relentlessly boring.  Not only was it boring, but you couldn't quite place what you were supposed to be feeling, because one minute the dad dies, and the next an african american woman can't breast feed her child.  Oh wow.  Yup, I said it, major fucking disappointment.

[NEON MERCURY]

Yep.  It's a masterpiece.  The 'scene' (you know, the one where the shit goes down) was brilliantly done.  The use of the mirror-- just that one fucking shot-- took it from what could have been a standard plot mechanism, to something incredibly tragic and disturbing.  It's crazy to me how just one little touch like that can make an image all the more powerful.  The film-nerd in me would have liked to have seen more aesthetic craziness throughout (in the opening, when the cop cars hit the mud and freeze-framed, I howled and instantly wanted to watch 'The Parallax View's chase scene), but that's as far as complaints get-- and I'm sure it would have been a disservice to the story anyway.

 
i agree.  this film is a fucking masterpiece.  fianlly saw this.  and lived up to all of my precopncieved expectations.   DDG is a fucking badass.   nice to see a fellow southerner push film art.  

warning:::::::::::::::do not buy this thinking its a standard conventional thriller...its not[thankfully]
for those of you who are on the fence on on if you should buy it-do so!  it has my approval.  and i got great taste .


spoilers.............

-like w2a mentioned that scene with lucas slitting his brothers throat-mirror image.         that was fucking killer.  just that idea of the mirror turned a standard slit throat scene into something  i will never forget.  

-also that nail in foot in the beggining was sick..nice effect


i would also like to get peoples interpretations of the ending.   i read one that reflects my viewpoint.....which is:

when chris drops the coins into the water, hes paying the ferryman to tak ehim across to the otherside.  [hence the subsequent ocean scene] and chris actaully dies and what you see at the end at the hospital is what chris wrote in the bottle ------------his "happpy ending"

end of spoilersssssssssssssssssss...


enough of my bad grammar and cliched adjectives.  i will end this by sayin gsee this mother fucker.  ............its up their with mulholland dr. IMO>>>>>>>>>>>as a great film post 2000

[Thrindle]

Have calmed down after disappointing viewing.  Let me make myself clear, I did not like this movie because I expected something completely different from it.  David Gordon Green makes movies with "perfect" interpretations of the human condition.  I just didn't feel it with this one.

Also, I was watching with a mother who is post-op... so playing nursemaid kind of killed the concentration.  This is my version of backpedalling.

[Finn]

I kind of felt the same way. I would say it's very well directed and the actors are great. I was a little let down by the story and the character development, but it's still strong and authentic. A few of the chase scenes (particularly the first one in the house) were really intense and scary.

[Alethia]

this is greens best movie.

[modage]

which isnt saying much.  just kidding guys, he's okay.

[Finn]

I still think All the Real Girls is his best movie yet

[Thrindle]

I still think All the Real Girls is his best movie yet

Uh, yeah!