Review of The Fields (2011) by Edward K — 08 Apr 2012

THE FIELD Is Mostly Lost In 'Corn'.

Having watched an awful lot of films in my time, every now and then I'm greeted with the real puzzle: how to explain my dissatisfaction with a motion picture I've found many viewers enjoyed. At the end of the day, I've always chalked the difference-of-opinion up to matters of taste: put simply, "while everyone may love ice cream, not everyone loves chocolate." By analogy, this helps underscore how I struggle with films: "while everyone likes a good scare, not everyone appreciates the same terror." You can handle any genre the same way - what one person finds vulgar, another finds funny, and so on, and so forth.

This brings me to THE FIELDS, a film whose advertising tells me is based on actual events. In doing some online reading regarding how well the film has been received (I've mostly found middling to great reviews), I find myself at a loss. Did I watch the same film? Did I follow the same story? Did it star the same actors? Was this really based on true events?

I fell down stairs once. True story. That doesn't mean that incident lends itself to a motion picture, especially one with bankable stars. After watching a handful of the special features - particularly, I watched those that promised to expose the 'true events' upon which the screenplay was based - I'm convinced that, while there very well may be a genuinely promising film that could evolve from such events, I don't think THE FIELDS is it. In fact, at one hour and thirty-eight minutes, I felt THE FIELDS was probably one hour too long. I've no doubt there's a story there - that kind of sinister spine-chiller audiences usually embrace - it just isn't one that deserves this level of commitment.

I won't belabor the point any longer. While the performances were interesting and the settings were exceptional, I thought THE FIELDS was horribly edited with many sequences simply hanging on way too long with no discernible reason. Much of the script felt improvised - more than a handful of scenes play out in dream-like sequences, leaving me to question what was real versus what was only imagined. Dialogue felt ad-libbed, and, while I wasn't particularly frightened, I wasn't particularly moved either. Or interested.

The film was produced by Mr. Big LLC and Expressway Productions, while Fabrication Films and Breaking Glass Pictures are also cited participants. It all looks good, though I found the sound mix a bit muddled, at times; again, I'm not willing to say whether or not that was deliberate given the nature of the 'tale' here because I don't know. There are plenty of special features - history of the true events, behind-the-scenes featurettes, on-location specials, and the like - for anyone interested in exploring more about this unique film. At the end of the experience, however, I can only chalk it all up to "meh, this one just wasn't for me." In fairness, this happens to me a fair amount of the time with films similar in this haunted/spooky/what'sup genre, so please take that for what it's worth.

At its zenith, THE FIELDS only manages one salvaging act - a saving grace for any film exploring what truly haunts us - and that's making healthy use of 'atmosphere.' There's a thick layer of dread over the entire film, no matter where it takes (or pushes) you ... from its aging farmhouses to a feces-stained milk factory ... from its decrepit and dilapidated theme park to its small-town general store ... but the ever-present and always-eerie cornfields surrounding everything takes the grand prize for "Most Creepy." In fact, I'm giving it two stars overall on that point alone. It really was "most creepy" in a lot of ways.

NOT (REALLY) RECOMMENDED unless you're really still interested despite my review.

In the interests of fairness, I'm pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Breaking Glass Pictures provided me with a screener copy of THE FIELDS for the expressed purposes of completing this review.