| Product: |
In The Cut (DVD) |
| Date: |
06/01/08 (55 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Great Performances, Shocking, Unique, Beautiful To Lok At
Disadvantages: Detatched, Badly Told Story, At Times Genuinely Disturbing
Frannie is a professor of English, trying to teach bright but under achieving urban kids whilst fighting with her own sexual impulses and slight paranoia. When at a bar, Frannie sees a sex act being performed in the toilet, she cannot see the faces of the people, but can see a unique tattoo on the male's wrist. Disturbed but excited by this event she quickly leaves, but is followed by a policeman who informs her that the girl is now dead, decapitated and left in a dump. The detective is Malloy a hard drinking, fast talking New York police cop, who is instantly attracted to Frannie. As they get involved in a steamy and dangerous affair, which fuels both of their flaws, the murder grows more prolific, leaving a trial of body's that grow closer and closer to the delusional English professor. As their relationship grows ever more violent and as Frannie begins to lose grip of what is real and what is fiction she finds herself in more danger than she could ever of imagined.......
In The Cut is a maddening, beautiful, lyrical mess of a movie; lacking sense or a good story but brimming with sensual style, it flits from brilliant to dreadful in the space of a few frames and is steeped in contradiction -its grubby yet gorgeous, disturbing yet enticing, involving yet detached. A dark thriller that uses New York City like a ferocious character; jungle like, wild and disturbing, a scary urban forest of deceit and fear to create tension. Never sticking with a linear narrative, the film coherency is sacrificed and the flimsy story is never back up with any substance, but it contains imagery that will stay with you long after the credits role and its use of visuals to add horror to the proceedings are genuinely unsettling. Relying on words rather than actions to pile on the anxiety (Frannie's obsessive quote making becomes incredibly emotive), the film lingers to it claustrophobic and dark final chapter. It's never as absorbing as it wants to be, infact it does a good job of keeping the audience at arm's length, and there are huge flaws in both concept and execution.... but it's hard not to be swept away by the gory romanticism of it all, it may not be enjoyable, but it certainly makes an impression.
From the opening scene the 'look' of In the Cut is established; twirling, pink leaves fall over an urban jungle as the screen scratches and the camera jitters, the haunting slowed-down que sera sera humming in the background. It's genuinely startling, instantly unsettling and from there on in imagery and visuals are used to outstanding effect throughout the film. The bright crimson blood is in stark contrast with the gloomy settings; the motif of old-black-and-white skaters, gracefully spinning through the air evokes old French sensibilities and the sprawling, eclectic nature of Frannie's apartment is a wonderful reflection of her mental state. The flickering scenes, jumping and scratching, burning up reels and off skewed camera work give the film a disturbing off kilter quality. The contrast of beautiful and horrifying make both more potent and chilling and the lingering, drawn out, summer heat slow speed with which the visuals bleed into each other makes for a unique and claustrophobic experience. But the most startling use of visuals comes with Jane Campion's recreation of New York City; vibrant, horrifying, exciting, restricting and sprawling, caught between a nightmare and a dream, never really convincing as a city, more a living, breathing terrifying person; powerful, strong and horrifying.
It's a real shame that the filmmaker's ambitious and effective use of visuals isn't matched with their story telling abilities; they leave things too ambiguous, character's motives make no sense, the final conclusion (the big 'reveal') is obvious but disconnected with the story and the dialogue is often stilted. The screenplay doesn't know what it wants to be; a claustrophobic thriller, a study of a fragile mind, a sexual exploration or a slasher and so it is never completely successful at any one thing. The story is allowed to meander, never achieving the kind of punch that it needs and there are too many plot elements that make no sense. The story isn't as complex as it thinks it is and so often comes off as pretentious and the rather puzzling relationship between Frannie and Detective Malloy is erotically charged but never very convincing. The story never seems to go anywhere, a good premise looking for a better outlet and its attempts to wrap things up with a rather convoluted conclusion are annoying. The screenplay does however do a good job of probing into Frannie psyche, examining the effect of loss on her and her intimacy issues throw up some interesting questions about dependency and desire and has more than a few literary flourishes.
Some of the dialogue feels stunted like the characters are saying things that they don't really mean and some of it stalls the already slightly lagging pace. A lot of the more interesting ideas are not fully explored, being swapped for unnecessary plot twists and the tension of the piece occasionally dips, due to an overlong running time. It has the distinct feeling of someone who has lots to say, but lacks the intelligence or confidence to say it. However, this subsides after a shocking mid-way twist in the tail which throws the characters into hysteria and speeds the pace up immeasurably. The relationship between Malloy and Frannie is rife with tension and the dynamic is the core of the film, offering a meaty and interesting look into a deeply dysfunctional partnership. The sexual explicitness of the film (there are many full frontal scenes, simulated oral sex, anal sex, masturbation, sexual violence and one shot of an erect penis which caused much uproar upon the film's release) is shocking and its detached quality makes it chillingly unemotional, adding to the overall feeling on unease that runs through.
Meg Ryan gives a career best performance; ferociously embodying the paranoia and delusion of her character, injecting Frannie with a maddened energy, giving a performance rubbed raw by despair and smashed by grief. Ably handling the movies emotional scenes with a fierce sadness and is fearless in the films sex scenes, which she instils with a passion and neediness that is extremely engaging. She perfectly puts across the alienation and fear, looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights, scared but incredibly enticed by the dark world in-front of her. A surprising mix of naivety and intelligence she sears through the screen growing more fragile and distraught as her world begins to unravel around her. Her emotions burst into the air like a tornado, a force to be fought with; messy, strong and fascinating - she knows what she's doing, but it never feels calculated. After the initial shock of seeing American's sweetheart naked, you see a dark, seductive, brave study of a woman whose knowledge of reality and fiction is severely and dangerously blurred. Mark Ruffalo is an equally engaging and horrifying figure as Malloy.
Jane Campion's direction swings from the sublime to the ridiculous; the detail with which she builds character development and the beauty which she instils into the thing is astounding, her ambitious use of time structure is unsuccessful but startling and she gives the scenes an urgency that grabs you by the collar and hurtles you through the air. Her vision of the murder mystery element is more exciting than her script allows and her ideas about what make thrillers thrilling are genuinely inventive. Many of the scenes are teeth grindingly tense (one involving a dismembered head, a blood soaked bathroom and a hysterical woman comes to mind) and her mix of the intimate and the boundary laden makes for a disturbing watch. But she lets the story unravel without her control; she doesn't rein the material in, pays too much attention to the silliness of the plot and makes some of it seem damn right banal. She can't seem to get into a groove, she can never get a handle of what she wants the pace to be like and so the film keeps stopping and starting. The ending is thought provoking, but desperately rushed and un-engaging and she fails to make it a thrill, she zaps the fun from a lot of the scenes and messes up some of the interaction between Malloy and Fannie.
Overall In The Cut is a beautiful, impulsive, addictive, brilliant heap of junk; which is a shame as it is genuinely unique, with great performances and an eye popping visual style. The screenplay lets it down though, it never grabs the audience like it should and never really goes anywhere until the final, rather rushed last scenes. Like a ghost; haunting, beautiful but ultimately transparent - should be watched for people interested in ambitious art rather than great storytelling.
Summary: A Gorgeous, Enticing But Dissapointing Erotic Thriller
|
|
