Review of Undertow (2004) by Thomas G — 14 Oct 2008

David Gordon Green's third film is perhaps his most narratively sensible , but the young director sticks true to his own ambitions and desires. Undertow stars Jamie Bell as Chris Munn; Devon Alan as the younger brother, Tim Munn; and Josh Lucas as the boys uncle, Deel. The boys live with their father, played by Dermot Mulroney, on a barely standing farm in a place that can scarcely be described as anything other than rural. John Munn took his boys to the country after the death of their mother. He keeps them isolated for the most part. Chris rebels and gets in trouble with the law; Tim is sick, and certainly does nothing to help his condition by eating just about anything that isn't fit for any living thing. Apparently this is an actual condition, according to Green on the commentary track.

Life is boring at home. John goes in town to work and puts Chris in charge of the work at home - looking after the pigs, fixing the lawnmower, whatever needs to be done. One day, Deel shows up, fresh out of prison. (It is interesting to note here something that I have not seen mentioned before, and something which I myself did not notice until my third viewing. After John picks up Chris from the police station, on the drive home the radio says something about an escaped convict on the loose. Deel mentions that no one knows he is at the house at one point. Is he the escaped convict? Or is this just an interesting choice thrown in their by Green?) Deel has a sinister vibe about him, much to the credit of Josh Lucas who does a fantastic job. He stays with the family, and it eventually becomes clear that he has another agenda besides catching up on lost time. "She was my girl," Deel tells Chris, referring to his mother. He inquires about an old set of Mexican coins that he believes John has - he claims that half belong to him. There is a moment where violence comes to the front, and the boys are forced to run away. What follows is sort of like a super poetic "Night of the Hunter." They encounter interesting characters, beautiful but desolate landscapes, and what seems to be a long lost commune of modern hippies and street kids.

Green could have easily fallen into the trap of the typical chase thriller, but he retains his own style throughout the . His style, as always, is very Malick-esq, and in fact Terrence Malick was this films producer. This must have been a major compliment for Green, who is a self proclaimed Malick nut. As always, the dialog is fantastically naturalistic and the cinematography is beautiful, but not your typical beautiful. The landscape is rustic and beaten down, and in the way its captured by Green and his cinematographer, Timm Orr, its gorgeous. Phillip Glass's score is wonderful as well. Again what could have been typical for chase thrillers is replaced by a menacing, yet strangely harmonious and elegant score.

Undertow was one of the best movies of 2004, as well as one of Green's best. It's a shame that it was passed over and misjudged by so many critics (credit to Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper for recognizing the film's brilliance). I think much of that has to do with the fact that the film remained away from the standards of chase pictures, as well as its abstraction keeping you at a distance. It is more of a memory of what happened than a document of whats happening.