Dark Harbor (rev)
Dec. 3rd, 2004 10:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
muck_a_luckFinally watched Dark Harbor.
Knowing the ending meant I didn't have to go back and immediately rewatch it. Clearly a two viewing film for those for whom the end is a surprise.
Spoilers for Dark Harbor/Knife in the Water
Poor Norm. Such a mess in this. *scowls at director*
Gotta give him (Norm) a nod, though. Pretty good job. All innocent and menacing at the same time. The injured waif and the threatening male presence, all rolled up into one.
Couple of big story problems for me.
1. At the end, it is not at all clear what we are supposed to think about Norm's unnamed (I think. IMDB lists him as "Boy") character. Is he essentially who he as seemed? An illiterate drifter? Or is he supposed to be all "cleaned up" in that scene. And was that his real accent peeking through at the end. He'd been American all through the film to that point. I think we were supposed to believe that his entire self-presentation through the whole movie was an act, to seduce the wife.
2. The wife seems to be in a weird place in the relationship. Like she is sick of him, but not ready to end it. Still trying to make the marriage work. Still not willing to have an affair. He, meanwhile, seems completely bitter and hateful, and yet also seems to want to reach out and take her offered kindnesses. Probably a pretty realistic picture of a marriage coming to the end. But weird for a script.
3. How much of the relationship between Boy and Husband is an act and how much is true violence between them?
I said I wouldn't need to rewatch. But might anyway, for another look.
Oh. Did not need the full frontal on Mr. Rickman. Or the long scene of his naked butt climbing the stairs. However, Boy waiting for his shirt to come out of the dryer...
Knowing the ending meant I didn't have to go back and immediately rewatch it. Clearly a two viewing film for those for whom the end is a surprise.
Spoilers for Dark Harbor/Knife in the Water
Poor Norm. Such a mess in this. *scowls at director*
Gotta give him (Norm) a nod, though. Pretty good job. All innocent and menacing at the same time. The injured waif and the threatening male presence, all rolled up into one.
Couple of big story problems for me.
1. At the end, it is not at all clear what we are supposed to think about Norm's unnamed (I think. IMDB lists him as "Boy") character. Is he essentially who he as seemed? An illiterate drifter? Or is he supposed to be all "cleaned up" in that scene. And was that his real accent peeking through at the end. He'd been American all through the film to that point. I think we were supposed to believe that his entire self-presentation through the whole movie was an act, to seduce the wife.
2. The wife seems to be in a weird place in the relationship. Like she is sick of him, but not ready to end it. Still trying to make the marriage work. Still not willing to have an affair. He, meanwhile, seems completely bitter and hateful, and yet also seems to want to reach out and take her offered kindnesses. Probably a pretty realistic picture of a marriage coming to the end. But weird for a script.
3. How much of the relationship between Boy and Husband is an act and how much is true violence between them?
I said I wouldn't need to rewatch. But might anyway, for another look.
Oh. Did not need the full frontal on Mr. Rickman. Or the long scene of his naked butt climbing the stairs. However, Boy waiting for his shirt to come out of the dryer...
