Undertow | ||||
David Gordon Green Jamie Bell, Josh Lucas, Dermot Mulroney, Devon Alan, Shiri Appleby 2004 |
David Gordon Green a singular filmmaker whose first two features, "George Washington" and "All the Real Girls," staked out rural, small-town American terrain as his favored dramatic territory is trekking around those parts again. "Undertow," Green's third movie, is not so lyrical as his others, although they all share an air of quiet malaise. Co-written by Green and Joe Conway, "Undertow" is more of a thriller, hurtling forward with its account of a deadly chase through a heartland of darkness. Dermot Mulroney ("My Best Friend's Wedding") plays John, a backwoods hog farmer raising his two sons rambunctious Chris (Jamie Bell of "Billy Elliot") and sickly Tim (Devon Alan) in a motherless household. Along comes John's slimy brother Deel, fresh from the pokey. Deel wants to secure a major payday any way that he can. He takes advantage of John's hospitality, but only Chris recognizes his uncle's potential for treachery and does something about it. Violence, revenge and madness are on tap, so Chris and Tim will have to grow up fast, or risk not surviving at all. Watching out for one another, they hit the road to save their skins. Josh Lucas, likeable as a good ol' boy opposite Reese Witherspoon in "Sweet Home Alabama," taps into his gamy, dangerous side as Deel. The young actors portraying John's sons are superb, and the locations in and around Savannah, Georgia, are strikingly decayed. | |||
I'm Not There / Love In The Time Of Cholera / Gone Baby Gone / Delirious / 2 Days In Paris / more... |