David Gordon Green's "Undertow"

[Slick Shoes]

Great movie.

I saw it on Friday night. I was one of four in a theatre that seats five hundred. Kind of sad.

[NEON MERCURY]

um, whenever you see this you are suppose to say

"this film is a masterpiece"

then begin your review.

[modage]

this film is a masterpiece.  

okay, not really but DGG just isnt really my thing.  saw Undertow today and while i can appreciate like his 2 eariler films what he was trying to do, i just dont know that the end result was something completely there.  (i guess in the same sort of way mutinyco believes PT is talented but just hasnt made a film yet delivering on the promise of that and worthy of the praise he receives.)  the swelling phillip glass score in the opening moments was cool, as were some of the freeze frames in a kitchsy 70's way.  but they werent really used to full dramatic effect, but just seemed to be thrown in for cool like kill bill tossing in a reference just because its 'cool,' and not because it really means something.  the movie, working inside the genre as it may be, if you've seen Night of the Hunter, unfortunately you've already seen this movie.  there are no surprises to be found here, so you just have to wait and watch while DGG connects the dots.  which is fine if you really dig his style, and i dont mind it, but at the same time i'm not crazy for it.  it seemed to me like it was around the 1 hour mark before the boys even got on the road and then seemed like another hour or more from there.  (to my surprise when it ended i found out the film is only 2 hours, but really felt like longer).  so, i didnt mind the film, it was good-ish, but a little long and way predictable.  (it was no stand by me).  i wanted to love it, it just wasnt meant to be.  i imagine this wont change anybodys minds, DGG fans will love it and non-fans wont be converted.

[Alethia]

(it was no stand by me).

Thank Christ.

[modage]

(it was no stand by me).

Thank Christ.

i meant, nowhere near as memorable, real or good as SBM.

[Pozer]

i meant, nowhere near as memorable, real or good as SBM.

Thank Christ.

[samsong]

What the hell.

Like I Heart Huckabees, Undertow is a catastrophe of ideas, moreso for the former.  It's as if Green was so excited about finding a screenplay with which he can apply a lot of his influences that we haven't seen in his first two films that it becomes tiresome to watch.  Whether or not the film's style adds to the richness of the film isn't a factor for me because at pretty much every given moment I thought Green was either overindulging himself (opening credits!!!) or misapplying the style I love him for.  It's safe to say that he can't do genre and his own style at the same time; it just doesn't work.  Undertow can't even be considered genre reconstruction (eg McCabe & Mrs. Miller for the western... that's what I was hoping this would be) because Green so blatantly embraces the conventions of the genre and shines them on in their banal glory.  I love genre pictures but when set against the languid, glorious pacing and eye for truth of David Gordon Green, it can't work, and quite frankly it doesn't.  There's a conflict of interests in the film.

I'd be damned though to say that there's nothing good about this film.  To compare it again to I Heart Huckabees, I saw this as a wonderous mess (that first paragraph was to express my disappointment with Green moreso than with the film).  A lot of the film felt like watered-down DDG but there are moments of geniune gentleness and great beauty that resonate deeply.  I loved the scenes with the gypsies/homeless; that entire sequence was wonderfully fairy-tale yet so well rooted in truth.  The younger brother's voice-overs, however, were so blatantly Days of Heaven that I almost wrote them off completely.  

Undertow's a good example of a film with better intentions than execution, one that let me down because I thought there was so much potential in one part but surprised me because it showed a lot of depth where I least expected it.  By the end I didn't know how to feel, and if there's one thing I hate feeling after a film, it's ambivalence.  To me it was like watching an amazing director work with material that's beneath him and try to make the best of it, which, to a point, he does.  Not Tim Orr's best work either, but there seemed to be a more experimental air about this movie when compared for the first two, and there are few things greater in cinema than to watch a great artist challenge himself, regardless of the result....even if challenging himself means making a more conventional film.

Undertow > Stand By Me

It's a film that fails but at the end of the day I'm grateful to have seen it.  I feel odd saying this but it's one of my favorite films of the year.  Despite my reservations, the force of what's good about the film is undeniable and still churning in my mind and heart.  I just hope this is as bad as Green gets.

[Ghostboy]

I saw it for a second time last night, and loved it even more.

Samsong, do you really think the little brother's VO is more blatantly Malick-ish than anything in George Washington -- in which he lifted not only cadence and mannerism, but gender and even almost actual lines of dialogue?

I loved the jarring (and yes, self indulgent) contrast of styles -- of thrilling versus rambling, with all the oddball freeze frames that were no more explicable and yet somehow appropriate than the heavily gothic Phillip Glass score. I thought it was all marvelously congruent.

[samsong]

I loved the jarring (and yes, self indulgent) contrast of styles -- of thrilling versus rambling, with all the oddball freeze frames that were no more explicable and yet somehow appropriate than the heavily gothic Phillip Glass score. I thought it was all marvelously congruent.

Well put.  Phillip Glass's scores are challenging, always adding to the complexity of the work even though it doesn't always feel appropriate.  The contrast of styles left me ambivalent because it felt completely superfluous but the impression it leaves is one I couldn't shake.  It may not have worked for me but it was wonderful watching Green exploring the form more.  I still think the opening credits is horrible though.

As for George Washington... I'll have to watch it again.  The difference for me is having met Undertow with expectations whereas I didn't know what to expect from George Washington when I first saw it.  The Malick similarities in George Washington were refreshing because it was awesome to see him getting some recognition by a more contemporary director who's doing what he did in his time now.  I don't mind Green being the new Malick, but I do mind Green being Malick.  For a first film it's fine, even joyous, but I want to see him get farther from that as he makes more films, which I think he did with All the Real Girls, so Undertow felt like a digression in that respect.

[Alethia]

(it was no stand by me).

Thank Christ.

i meant, nowhere near as memorable, real or good as SBM.

oh okay, i thought you meant nowhere near as forgettable, forced or shitty as SBM.  my bad.

[ono]

You've been hanging around he who shall not be named just a skosh too much.

[modage]

oh okay, i thought you meant nowhere near as forgettable, forced or shitty as SBM.  my bad.

while i will say that i really like stand by me, i will also say that the puking scene makes me cringe, not because its gross - no, its so over the top you cant think its gross - but because....what the fuck?

but i do think the movie is quite affecting, and i fucking love richard dreyfuss.

yeah, eward.  what are you talking about?  you're letting your film snobbery get out of hand when you start hating on sbm.  there are much worse things out there, so i cant say i understand this 180.

[samsong]

oh okay, i thought you meant nowhere near as forgettable, forced or shitty as SBM.  my bad.

while i will say that i really like stand by me, i will also say that the puking scene makes me cringe, not because its gross - no, its so over the top you cant think its gross - but because....what the fuck?

but i do think the movie is quite affecting, and i fucking love richard dreyfuss.

yeah, eward.  what are you talking about?  you're letting your film snobbery get out of hand when you start hating on sbm.  there are much worse things out there, so i cant say i understand this 180.

People's opinions change.

The fact that Stand By Me is a mediocre film (on a good day...a very good day) won't.

[modage]

XIXAX: FROM FILM LOVER TO FILM SNOB IN 6 MONTHS

[ono]

Hmm, this was in a theatre in my town for about a week and then it disappeared.  Only one showing a day, too, relegated to the level of The Brown Bunny.  Seems to be the case in other cities, too.  Was it really that bad a flick?  What's the story?