Hey folks, Harry here. Capone really nails this film in my point of view. When I was talking about CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and this film.... The similarities he talks about are EXACTLY what I was talking about. It's not about the gigantic big flashy lights... Just like JAWS wasn't about the shark biting you in half. Instead it's about what happens when you put regular blue collar folks in the midst of the extraordinary. Outside of the norm that they are prepared to exist in. THAT'S what this film does. My one disagreement is when he says he feels the ending isn't as good as the rest of the film. I felt the ending to be haunting and appropriate. The last shot... killed me. But hey... I'll be damned if I tell ya what it is. Here's Capone...
Hey Harry. Capone here from Chicago.
I had the great fortune of seeing "A Stir of Echoes" yesterday, and I have to say right off the bat that anybody expecting to be "blown away" by this film is in for a big disappointment. Which is not to say this was anything less than a stellar piece of subtle film making. This is not a film trying to shock or scare with cheap parlor tricks, special effects, and screaming cats jumping out of closets. The first question I asked myself after viewing this movie was, "Would this have been an interesting tale without the supernatural elements?" Absolutely.
Kevin Bacon does such a convincing job as playing a Chicago telephone line repair man dissatisfied with the cards life has dealt him. We are not supposed to like him entirely. In an early scene he cannot hide his disappointment when his wife announces she is pregnant with their second child. His fragile dreams of becoming a minor force in the Chicago rock scene will have to be put on hold. Still, he's a strong father figure for his son and a mostly good husband (like most of us). Illeana Douglas is her usual off-beat self in this; she needs to change her tune now. She's been holding that note since "Cape Fear."
I've read comparisons between "A Stir of Echoes" and "Close Encounters" or "The Exorcist" (Actually, the film this one most reminded me of was "Resurrection" from 1980.), but what people must understand is that this film is far more low- key that those films are. The reason those 70's masterpieces worked wasn't just the effects. What I liked most about those two films (and you can throw the original "Jaws" into this category) was that the script spent a disproportionate amount of time (by today's standards) examining the everyday lives of some very ordinary people, very often people in troubled or dissolved marriages. Speilberg used to do this so well; look at "E.T." as a prime example. There are huge sections of that film that have nothing to do with outer space visitors. In my mind, this aspect of "A Stir of Echoes" separates it from 100 other films of late, where no movement or line of dialogue is disposable; everything is keyed into driving the plot ahead; no time to get to relax with and know characters. (I sound like my grandfather!)
Having said that, "A Stir of Echoes" than has the nerve to actually be very scary at times and consistently tension-filled throughout. Since I've read so many other reviewers on this site comment on the hypnosis sequence, I won't go into how awesome it is. But I will say, again, don't expect fireworks; that isn't why that sequence works so well. There are no spinning heads or projectile vomiting or demons or Satan or monsters. And just to clue you in to how tense many scenes are in this film, several people in my screening walked out, but I don't think it was because they were bored or didn't like it. I heard one woman say, "This is probably going to be good, but it's freaking me out." And that comment came after Bacon's first supernatural encounter after being hypnotized. It's probably best she didn't stay.
Problems: I won't go so far to say the ending is weak, but it's not up to the power of the rest of the film. I felt the spirit of the film was somewhat betrayed in its wrapping up. I wasn't surprised by the outcome of the mystery element of the story, and I didn't feel the need for a villain to enter the picture in the third act. But I wouldn't trade any other part of the film for a "stronger" ending. I give most of the credit to writer/director David Koepp (I loved "The Trigger Effect") for going out of his way to stay minimal. Who would have guessed that less is more?
Later this week, I'll give you my views on "Drop Dead Gorgeous," "Lake Placid, " and possibly "The Haunting." See ya,
Capone
