The Weight of Water
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Movie Reviews of The Weight of Water
Movie Review: Kathryn Bigelow obviously put a lot of care into her direction of this film.
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm absolutely shocked that the critical reaction to this movie has been so negative. I was overwhelmed by `The Weight of Water.' I guess part of the problem is that the ad campaign seems to have presented it as a thriller, which it's not. It's also not a mystery or a love story. It's a slow-paced, decidedly downbeat look at two women who are trapped in loveless relationships. Basically, it consists of two parts, a modern-day part and a historical part, set in the 19th century. The 19th century part shows promise and actually gives a pretty interesting view of how a mysterious double murder took place, but ultimately it's underdeveloped and I'll have to admit is a bit slow.
However, compared to the modern-day part, the 19th century part is sort of Oscar material. But as you watch this film you will notice that the modern-day part seems to rely on two major things: Liz Hurley's breasts and some endlessly drawn out shots and quasi-philosophical conversations which really don't have much of a storyline.
Kathryn Bigelow's direction is masterful. She uses images and sounds to express the powerful passions which the two main characters feel but can't express themselves. She gets excellent performances out of the entire cast, but Sarah Polley is especially fine. I'm sure the fact that none of the characters are sympathetic (at least not in the usual sense) is one of the reasons people aren't responding to the film. Bigelow isn't telling a simple story here, and she doesn't want to manipulate the audience by trotting out the usual clichés. This is a complicated movie about how complicated love really is.
I haven't read Anita Shreves's novel, but I'd like to. I imagine Bigelow was attracted to it because it offered a blunt, unsentimental look at relationships. `The Weight of Water' is not a conventional Hollywood entertainment. If you're open to it, if you throw away your preconceptions, you may be surprised at where this film takes you.
Movie Review: A fine play within a play
Summary: 4 Stars
THE WEIGHT OF WATER is a fine story that becomes one of the better examples of double stories played in flashback released in recent years. Kathryn Bigelow was managed to direct an excellent cast in a well written screenplay based on a novel by Anita Shreve - an exploration by a contemporary set of couples on a weekend excursion to re-address an actual murder of two women that took place on the lonley Isle of Shoals off the coast of New Hampshire in 1873. The impetus of the investigation is journalist/photographer Catherine McCormack with alcoholic poet husband Sean Penn, Penn's worldy brother Josh Lucas and his current paramour Elizabeth Hurley. This quartet of strangely interconnected lives is slowly exposed to the facts of the century old murders through the voice of one of the three women in the fated house who survived. The island murder site has one lonely house with a history of Norwegian immigrants beset with marital discord, incest, and isolation. As the real version of the murders unfolds the contemporary couples' similar quirks are revelded. To say more would deprive the viewer of the keen suspense this spellbinding story holds. Suffice it to say that with a cast of contemporaries like Catherine McCormack, Sean Penn, Elizabeth Hurley and Josh Lucas and the parallel cast of islanders that includes a wonderful Sarah Polley, Vinessa Shaw and Katrin Cartlidge the suspense and intensity is matched only by the main character of the film - the mighty Atlantic ocean. Beautifully photographed, the film's only real problem is that the voices are often buried by a lushly orchestrated and sung film score; the music is beautiful but overpowers the actors and pacing of the story. But that said, THE WEIGHT OF WATER is a fine movie that deserves another go - and that can now happily happen in your home on a very well made DVD.Movie Review: Absorbing drama
Summary: 4 Stars
A complex drama in two movements: this was a worth adaptation of Anita Shreve bestseller artistically directed for Kathryn Bigelow whose style camera work reminds us to the Chabrol of the seventies , (The butcher)and Antonioni (L eclisse) .
The story is told in parallel times , when two modern couples decide to go to New Hampshire and visit the stage where two brutal murderers were commited 125 years ago , in which an innocent man is declared guilty and punished with death .
The slow rhtym is revealed with nuance and psichological mood , the defiant glances , the sensuality and the lack of inspiration of William Burroughs (Sean Penn) . Precisely in contrast with absence of creative fire , his husband seeks the clues far beyond the official story .
She will be rebuilding this macabre and mysterious puzzle , involved in a complex web of silents , incest and madness .
In both narrative lines the tension grows , and these stories admirably never intersect but they are edited perfectly with extraordinary and dramatic links .
All the characters have something to hide , the loneliness and hopeless are just behind the door , the poetry spills through the plot ; and the beating mistery slowly appears in front of the viewer with its merciless crudeness .
Sarah Polley stole the show with her complex acting . She is an overwhelming young actress and is a hopeful promise in this craft , together with Naomi Watts .
Certainly there is an undeniable european influence in its descriptive and paced flow . The corporal and visual languages are fundamental in this superb work .
Watch that film . Bigelow reveals as a great promise director with this work.
Movie Review: I am totally shattered by Sarah Polley's performance here...
Summary: 4 Stars
Say what you want about this movie...structurally, story-telling-wise, or even about its entire modern day arc. I am putting the performance Sarah Polley gives here in my all-time greats pantheon. This, my friends, is an actress to be reckoned with.
I have yet to read Anita Shreve's book. I will be after watching this movie. And while I usually prefer the written word to film adaptations, I am fearful that there will be nothing on the page that will be able to hold a candle to the fierce and wounded performance of Ms. Polley.
As Maren, Sarah Polley--more than any other actress or actor I have ever seen--captures our universal and very human need for love. Even more brilliant: she does this from moment one of the performance but conceals it until a pivotal moment later in the movie. She has, through her performance, truly breathed life into this character.
Through most of the movie she alternates between a relatively to extremely unlikable character. Yet when she arrives at her weakest moment, at what some might argue is her most vile moment, I found her totally sympathetic and heart-breaking.
This is acting that gives us a true glimpse into a character. By extension it lets us more clearly see ourselves.
While there are things about this movie that I do not care for (I really don't care all that much for anyone on the boat except maybe the brother...hence the four stars), there is no performance that I could ever recommend more highly than the one Sarah Polley turns in here. You owe it to yourself to see this.
I am in awe of and totally shattered by Maren.
Movie Review: Surprisingly very good.
Summary: 4 Stars
Sean Penn keeps popping up everywhere I turn. He's like an infectious disease that won't stop. He wasn't in his place in The Interpreter, but here, in a bit role in The Weight of Water, he's right at home. Catherine McCormack does another good job (did I mention that it helps that she's amazingly hot?), and Elizabeth Hurley is oh so hot. I can't believe they put both of those women in the same film.
Right now, those of you who are women - or those men who are sissified - are probably bored to tears. Well, I'm not done, so give me one more minute of your hectic day, please.
The plot flips back and forth between the past and the present. McCormack's character - a photojournalist - is unraveling a hundred-year old crime while watching her poet husband(Sean Penn) lust over another woman(Hurley) on a boating outing. Well, as our protagonist digs deeper and deeper into the old crime, she begins to lose control on reality, seeing herself in the same situation as one of the possible killers from the unsolved mystery.
Good acting and a story that slowly engulfs. Plus, two incredible British hotties and a role that actually makes Sean Penn look great. What more do you need?