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| Friday, May 15, 2009 |
| The Woods[ 2006] |
I watched The Woods yesterday, initially out of curiosity, then out of nothing better to do. Does not matter if you have not seen the film, for I am sure you already know the basic premises. Not because the movie was popular, but more because it plays along very archetypical lines. A truant girl, slightly antisocial is sent away to a boarding where she confronts mean girls who taunt her and restless spirits who return to torment. Now of course, the other girls think she is weird and it is not till the end that the film's climax shall firmly place her as the savior of the day. The Woods is a lot of movies in one- beginning from Mean Girls[2004] to Suspiria [1977] but such diverse inspirations did not seem to work, quite to the advantage of its own favor.
I grant that the film's storyline does have some potential which is diluted through awkward editing, weak conceptualization of some of the character dynamics among other things. So, we have a troubled girl [which of course, is in keeping with the other two features Lucky McKee directed- May[2002] and Sick Girl, a Master of Horror episode. In all three McKee handles the disturbed psyche of girls.] who has the makings of a pyromaniac and the movie begins with her parents[ snooty mum and a mum dad] driving her to an exclusive girls boarding school. The mother behaves like a classic stepmother, cold and eager to make sure her daughter, Heather has no fun while she is away. The teachers as they first appear immediately strike as obviously strange [except for the headmistress, played by Patricia Clarkson] which for me was the first weak link. Thematically similar to Suspiria with its isolated school near the woods headed by witches, the film lacks all of the earlier masterpiece's brilliance.
In this darker Hogwarts setup next comes, getting acquainted with the students and here again the film toes stereotypes. She sits across the shy, unpopular, frequently bullied student [Marcy] and before she can even finish her breakfast, the typically 'cool' babe of the school [Samantha] comes around to fling some dirty insults. Before you know it, Heather and Marcy are friends [predictably], bonded against the Samantha and her jibes. You could reconstruct the entire film as a study in wasted stereotyping and I shall not go into further dissection at this point.
However, while stereotyping was bad enough, the film blew it with the hasty second half which heaped events after events in a clueless sequencing. After being hexed by the headmistress, the father enters into a vegetative state. Then the next we see him, he is throwing up some repulsive, black puke and after staring at a twig that comes out with it, he suddenly jumps into action. He conveniently escapes from the hospital and the film expects the viewers to be content with the seconds long shot of him stealing keys from a sleeping gaurd. After that he rushes to the hostel, picks up an axe and dispite of having no clue about where Heather might be or of the coven of witches that ran the school or even about the singularity of the woods, he rushes into them and arrives just in time to hand the axe to Heather. Brilliant.
Acting was fine, neither too brilliant, nor anything to disagree with. |
posted by C @ 9:36 PM  |
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