 | The Deep End Starring: Tilda Swinton, Goran Visnjic, Jonathan Tucker, Josh Lucas, Peter Donat |
Elisabeth Sanxay Holding's noir thriller, The Blank Wall, has been brought to the screen with impressive craftsmanship by writers/directors, Scott McGehee and David Siegel. "The Deep End" has just about everything going for it. A terrific cast (namely Swinton and Visnjic), taut, suspenseful writing, impressive cinematography, and an obvious yet effective nod to Alfred Hitchcock, whose influence is felt throughout. The writers have wisely added enough of Hitchcock's "MacGuffins" throughout the screenplay to keep the audience guessing while building the tension to a climax worthy of the old master. Margaret Hall (Swinton) is a mother of three. Her lovely home, on the shores of Lake Tahoe, is a symbol of blissful domesticity. Two sons, including a teenager (Tucker), and a pre-teen daughter keep Margaret's days filled with ballet lessons, homework, school, trumpet lessons, car pools, laundry, etc. Living with her father-in-law (Donat) takes the edge off of the loneliness of having a loving husband who is seldom home. Being a top naval officer, he is usually at sea somewhere in the world. From the very beginning the film takes a dark turn. Her teenage son, Beau, has fallen in with a friend, Darby (Lucas), who is a no-good sleaze bag. After offering the friend money to stay away from her son, Margaret is about to have her busy but somewhat boring life turned upside down. Unknown to Margaret, her son is gay and Darby, his lover, gets himself accidentally killed in a fight with Beau outside of the family boathouse. When Margaret discovers Darby's body the next morning, she reacts as a confused but concerned mother. Dumping the body in a speedboat, Margaret takes off, ties it with an anchor and drops it into the shallow waters of a nearby cove. She does her best to erase any evidence of the death before it's time to take the kids to school. Returning home in the afternoon from her daughter's ballet lesson, Margaret notices police cars surrounding the cove. She clearly understands that Darby's body has been found. Enter villain Alek Spera (Visnjic). The ruggedly handsome bad guy boldly knocks on Margaret's door, interrupting the laundry cycle. He plays Margaret a videotape of son Beau and Darby making love. Unless Margaret comes up with $50,000 in 24 hours, he will deliver the tape to the police. Alek informs Margaret that he has a partner who, he implies, may be more villainous than himself. Wobbly and shaken by the graphic tape and fearing for her son's involvement in Darby's death, Margaret sets out to raise the money. From this point, the tension builds as MeGehee and Siegel brilliantly juxtapose the domestic duties of Margaret Hall's daily life with her growing panic to raise the money. As the plot unfolds, we are cleverly led down many blind alleys and always kept wondering how this disturbing story will resolve itself. The directors do this in a quick paced style using water (slow faucet drips, the shallow water, and the lake) as focal points to drive the narrative. All of this would be a bit unbelievable were it not for the powerfully textured performance of Swinton. Her busy, domesticated housewife is completely convincing. Visnjic's Alek is layered with complexity as the character continually evolves. The compelling chemistry between the two actors takes this film into new territory, developing into a lot more than just a taut thriller. Giles Nuttgen's lush cinematography of Lake Tahoe and the city of Reno is stunning and adds an important statement to the film's narrative. Nuttgens won a Best Cinematographer award for "The Deep End" at the Sundance Film Festival. As in her previous film, "Orlando," Scottish actress Tilda Swinton's performance will stay with you for a long time. One would hope that the performance would also stay with members of the Academy at nomination time. |