Despite the title of this post, I mean no ill towards PM Dawn. of returning from the Movies, I felt it necessary to give my take on Chris Kentis’s “Open Water”. I would like to reference a quote by Roger Ebert.
Rarely but sometimes, a movie can have an actual physical effect on you. It gets under your defenses and sidesteps the “It’s only a movie” reflex and creates a visceral feeling that might as well be real.
If visceral is synonymous with nauseating, then I agree 100%. Now, this film can’t be summed up with one statement. It needs to be carefully analyzed and broken down to it’s many components.
If we look at some of the cinematography we will learn how anybody can be a film maker. The camera work alone gave a true sensation of floating out in the water. Especially on the solid, land scenes. All camera work was done by hand, most likely by a toddler learning to walk during an earthquake. The technical team might have found a benefit in investing in steady cams or tripods.
Artistically, I don’t know what Kentis was thinking when he borrowed his parents old 16mm video camera to film this movie. The scenes were grainy and unclear and with the south African aborigines humming the soundtrack, I felt like I was watching grandpa’s home movies again.
The acting was mediocre at best. While they managed to get a few attractive people to play the parts, the only redeeming role was a nude scene of Susan (played by Blanchard Ryan) which, while the only appealing scene in the movie, was extremely unnecessary and didn’t do anything for the plot. They could have cut 5 seconds of film and made this movie a PG-13, or even a PG movie.
I shouldn’t be so cruel. The ending has it’s merits as we get to see an outcome of which your begging for throughout the movie!
Contrary to Ebert’s quote, This movie emphasizes the “rarely”.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this movie a -4,325,292
-4,325,292?
it was that good of a movie huh? lol
<3