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OPEN
WATER
6/10
USA
2003 : Chris KENTIS : 80 mins*
After
yet another exhausting summer of Hollywood's bells-and-whistles box-office
behemoths, it's starkly refreshing to find a no-budget "indie"
like Open Water arriving in our multiplexes. Produced, directed,
written, shot and edited by husband-and-wife duo Kentis and Laura Lau,
the inspired-by-true-events picture made an immediate splash when premiering
at Long Island's Hamptons Film Festival last October - an oceanfront setting
entirely appropriate for such peril-at-sea subject-matter.
And it's likely
that the event's well-heeled patrons would have identified with its two
lead characters, over-worked, affluent thirtyish yuppies Susan (Blanchard
Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis), whose hectic lives have put their relationship
under strain. After several postponements, they finally escape to the
Caribbean where their island holiday affords the chance for an organised
scuba-diving trip. But when they're accidentally abandoned by their boat,
the couple are left stranded in shark-infested open water - and with each
passing hour, their chances of survival ebb away...
While an undeniably
impressive achievement given the restrictions imposed by the low budget
and watery locations, Open Water never quite delivers on its terrific
premise. The second half of the picture becomes frustratingly static,
and the simmering discontents between Susan and Daniel - hinted at during
the early dry-land sequences - could have come into much sharper focus
under the pressures of their worsening plight. Kentis, meanwhile, dilutes
what should be relentlessly mounting tension by means of repeated brief
cutaways to the far-off island, where Susan and Daniel's absence is only
belatedly coming to light.
Though pitched
as a terrifying thriller - 'Blair Witch meets Jaws', according
to the UK posters - Open Water may disappoint audiences expecting
a scary thrill-ride, just as the Blair Witch hype-storm left many
viewers feeling short-changed when they actually got to see the movie.
An even closer parallel is with last year's Cabin
Fever, a pitch-dark comedy which was also (profitably) mis-sold
as some kind of straight-arrow frightfest. For all its merits, Open
Water ultimately adds up to nothing more than an over-extended Hitchcockian
black joke - albeit one whose 'punchline' is unexpectedly and admirably
audacious.
31st August,
2004
(seen 3rd June : Vue, Leicester : press show - CinemaDays
event)
*some sources
give running time as 79 mins
by Neil
Young
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