Hey folks, Harry here with the resident Spy du jour in San Francisco... Yup, I'm talking about that one time creator of our field of astrological coolness... that man with all that crazy info about star stuff, that's right, I'm talking about COPERNICUS! Well I missed ol Copernicus this weekend at Eeyore's Birthday Party... I had no puffing partner inside the drum circle this year... but that's alright, my man who wishes he were in Amsterdam, was in San Fran working up reports from this year's SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL! So sit back and enjoy this series from... Copernicus...
Remember how the trailers for Strange Days were much better than the movie? Well, Katheryn Bigelow is suffering karmic retribution for that because her new movie, THE WEIGHT OF WATER, is much better than the trailer will ever be. I say "will be" because, despite the fact that the movie was finished last year and was sold to Lion's Gate, plans to actually distribute the film are up in the air. They don't know what to do with it. There is a chance they might just shelve it. That would be a shame, because this movie is worth seeing.
The movie stars Sean Penn, Elizabeth Hurley, Catherine McCormack, and Josh Lucas. These four go out on a boat trip for relaxation, but one of them is obsessed with the mystery of a murder that happened on the island they visit in 1873. As the characters talk and read about the events that took place we see them in flashback -- Sarah Polley delivers a brilliant performance as an immigrant to America who becomes the only woman to survive a double axe murder.
Doesn't this setup sound about as fun as the Republican National Convention? That's what I thought as well until the movie started. This move has some very interesting, well fleshed out characters, but it would be an insult to the film to call it character driven -- it is actually suspense driven. In the nonlinear, 19th century story we are trying to figure out a mystery as more and more characters are added into the mix, tangling the web of sexual tension to the breaking point. There is enough sexual tension in this movie to power a small city! It is the glue that holds together the modern story as well. Characters' pasts, their desires, and suspicions all blend together to keep us on edge. Despite the seemingly simple sets of stories, before it is all over we are pulled from one emotion to the next by a double axe murder, incest, lesbian scenes, a hanging, Elizabeth Hurley's bare breasts, and that's not even all! (I don't consider those to be spoilers because I haven't told you which characters do what to whom).
The acting in this movie is also much better than in Strange Days or Point Break. Elizabeth Hurley is both funny and quite up to the task of playing the insatiable seductress. Sean Penn is fine, though by no fault of his own his part seems underwritten. The real standout performance, though, is from Sarah Polley. Never once did I think, "Hey it's that chick from GO!" She really blends into quite a complex role at the center of the 1873 plot.
Maybe the best part of THE WEIGHT OF WATER is that it is a very intelligent, beautifully shot suspense movie. Or is it a suspenseful art-house movie? Actually, the movie is impossible to nuggetize, which is why I think Lions Gate is struggling with figuring out how to sell it. One would hope that if the executives over there are any good they could see that this „weakness‰ is the movie's strength. You can't just summarize it in one sentence because the movie isn't one-dimensional. This movie is so much better than most of the stuff out there -- I hope it gets the release and the recognition it deserves.
This is not to say that the movie is perfect. Some of the plot lines don't go anywhere at all. Maybe this is due to pace-necessitated editing, or maybe this is just part of what it takes to build good suspense ˆ keep the viewer guessing as to which details will be important and which will be red herrings. Still, I mention it because it may annoy some people. Also, there are connections drawn between the past and the present which really don't ring true and seem somewhat forced. One other problem I had: no matter how beautiful a piece of poetry is, it almost always comes across as pretentious if a character reads it on screen.
All in all though, the faults of this movie are relatively minor -- the bottom line is that it is a good movie. How many times this year have I wished for something, anything good to see, and this movie was sitting on the shelf? If Lion's Gate releases it at one of those "doldrums" times of the year I think it could build an audience by word of mouth and strong reviews. The word is that after seeing this movie Harrison Ford decided that his next project would be K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER with Katheryn Bigelow. Let's hope audiences are as smart as he is.
-Copernicus
