I was lucky to catch a screening of the new movie, "The Weight of Water" at the San Francisco Film Festival with a friend and three of her friends. Considering Sean Penn is in this film, my friend is completely in love with him, which is mainly why she bought the tickets for us. We caught a show a few nights ago, 4/25, at 9:30 at the AMC Kabuki 8. Lovely theatre, by the way. Everyone seemed to be jazzed for the festival and the films playing as well. The whole crowd looked to be very diverse.
At 9:30, an introduction was given for "The Weight of Water." I believe this was the head of operations for the SF Film Festival (not too sure now, because my brain isn't as photographic as it used to be) who gave the intro. Then after that, for a few mins, one of the film's producers, Janet Yang started talking. If you aren't familiar with her past work, she was the producer of "The Joy Luck Club," "South Central," "The People vs. Larry Flynt," "Zero Effect," and others which I haven't mentioned. My friend, well, she was expecting Sean Penn to be at this premiere, so she dressed up. Unfortunately, no one apart of "The Weight of Water" was present besides Janet Yang, so my friend was let down a little. Yang mentioned that this film was in desperate needs of seeking a distributer, because originally the president of Lion's Gate loved "The Weight of Water" so much, that he decided that the studio would distribute the film for release last fall (or was it this coming fall?). Unfortunately, that president has recently left the studio, so the deal went off and now it may not be that this film will be released in theatres at all this fall. Yang had no idea that "The Weight of Water" was a part of the SF Film Festival. She heard about its premiere at the last minute, so no actors appeared at the screening.
So anyway, after Yang had her talk, the film began...
I've never really written a review before for a film, so I don't know how to begin. I myself am a cinema student at San Francisco State University, but I have yet to learn how to write a good film critique. Anyway...
Oh, you recall director Kathryn Bigelow? You know, the one behind "Point Blank," "Strange Days," "Blue Steel," that vampire flick, "Near Dark" and the upcoming Harrison Ford starrer, "K-19: The Widowmaker" (awfully strange, btw, seeing Ford playing a Soviet, but he did do a German impression in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, so I guess that's close... maybe). Well, this is a very different film for her in part because it's made completely differently than any of her other previous films. The beginning starts in a very routine way. Cuts are rather quick, dialog is pretty standard, and the characters don't seem to be all that unique. The story at the beginning takes place in the late 1800's, where a man is convicted of a brutal axe murdering of two women. He believes he's innocent, but others reject his desperate plea for being saved, as he is to be hanged after the jury in the court reaches a verdict of "guilty." "The Weight of Water" then cuts to present day, where a beautiful photographer, Jean Janes (Catherine McCormack) is going on an expedition with her husband (Sean Penn) and her brother and his girlfriend (Elizabeth Hurley) to figure whether or not this man who was hanged in 1873 was really innocent or not. Eventually we are treated by numerous flashbacks which illustrate what Jean Janes is thinking when she's trying to figure this whole mystery out. Looking back into time, however, distracts Janes a little from her present life, especially when in this one scene where she's at a watch tower, she attempts to have sex with her husband. This attempt fails, because Jean is caught up with trying to figure out if the murderer was really innocent.
I've been told that this movie has gotten negative reviews from many. I can see why, because the backstory in this film isn't that interesting. However, I don't think "The Weight of Water" is all that bad. In fact, it's quite good. Not a great movie, but better than most people thought it was.
The thing that really struck out for me at first, was the GORGEOUS cinematography. Again, mentioning director Kathryn Bigelow, this film almost looks completely different from her other body of work. It seems to be a complete departure. The photography is just beautiful. There is this one scene where Jean Janes walks on the rocks and sees Maren Hontvedt (Sarah Polley) jumping from one rock to another in a bleak flashback. The blueish and whiteish colors that illustrate this scene are just stunning. There is also this scary and exciting axe scene, where the one of the murdered girls is slayed. This scene is illustrated in dark colors, really haunting. As a matter of fact, I believe this scene is a lot more scary than watching any of the axe murder scenes in "Sleepy Hollow." I don't wanna give away anything else as far as cinematography goes.
With the acting, I'd say it's a lot better in the present day than for the backstory that's given. Actors such as Sarah Polley do well with their performances, but the accents could be a little less stagey and more the less sounding as if they come from the native tongue. In the present day, the acting is a lot more realistic. Sean Penn delivers one of his better performances as Jean Janes' husband, in a low-key, laid back sense (my friend was pleased by this). Catherine McCormack as Jean Janes, she's very strong and believable as a photographer. Elizabeth Hurley plays a woman who at first might have been just a bimbo looking for a hunk to give her a good dosage of sensational sex. However, she's more three-dimensional in that she does seem to want to be apart of the stimulating conversations Jean James brings up. Well, actually, the Elizabeth Hurley character does seem to be seductive, looking at Sean Penn's character in such a way, turning a dinner scene where he looks at her legs and she stares back at him looking very interested in him. By the way, Hurley is half-naked in one scene, so if you're excited in seeing her getting to be close to nude, it does happen in this film. Anyway, the actor who played Jean Janes' brother and Hurley's boyfriend, I forgot his name, but he was very well drawn out. I would say I was more interested in the characters of the present day, than the ones in the backstory.
As far as the flashbacks go, I think "The Weight of Water" is one of those better films that actually knows how to use this device well. Normally flashbacks in films are very distracting, but in this one, they actually help a lot and blend in well, helping us understand what Jean Janes is thinking when she comes to terms in solving this mystery of whether or not this convicted man was innocent or not and if what she believes is true, that a woman did commit the murdering of two women. In a sense, this film is not about the murders but rather Jean Janes herself and how she tries to figure out this mystery and how this expedition of her's is affecting her life, dramatically. For those who don't appreciate flashbacks, PERIOD, well, this isn't the film for you then.
There are those of you that will feel negatively about this film and those of you who won't, but I happen to think this is Kathryn Bigelow's best movie so far, until she proves worthy of the new K-19 movie with Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson. I think it's a very well made film and beautiful at times. It's not the greatest one out there, but at least it's not a pile of crap such as a movie like Inspector Gadget (yes, it is and you all know it is).
PLEASE GET THIS MOVIE A RELEASE!
At 9:30, an introduction was given for "The Weight of Water." I believe this was the head of operations for the SF Film Festival (not too sure now, because my brain isn't as photographic as it used to be) who gave the intro. Then after that, for a few mins, one of the film's producers, Janet Yang started talking. If you aren't familiar with her past work, she was the producer of "The Joy Luck Club," "South Central," "The People vs. Larry Flynt," "Zero Effect," and others which I haven't mentioned. My friend, well, she was expecting Sean Penn to be at this premiere, so she dressed up. Unfortunately, no one apart of "The Weight of Water" was present besides Janet Yang, so my friend was let down a little. Yang mentioned that this film was in desperate needs of seeking a distributer, because originally the president of Lion's Gate loved "The Weight of Water" so much, that he decided that the studio would distribute the film for release last fall (or was it this coming fall?). Unfortunately, that president has recently left the studio, so the deal went off and now it may not be that this film will be released in theatres at all this fall. Yang had no idea that "The Weight of Water" was a part of the SF Film Festival. She heard about its premiere at the last minute, so no actors appeared at the screening.
So anyway, after Yang had her talk, the film began...
I've never really written a review before for a film, so I don't know how to begin. I myself am a cinema student at San Francisco State University, but I have yet to learn how to write a good film critique. Anyway...
Oh, you recall director Kathryn Bigelow? You know, the one behind "Point Blank," "Strange Days," "Blue Steel," that vampire flick, "Near Dark" and the upcoming Harrison Ford starrer, "K-19: The Widowmaker" (awfully strange, btw, seeing Ford playing a Soviet, but he did do a German impression in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, so I guess that's close... maybe). Well, this is a very different film for her in part because it's made completely differently than any of her other previous films. The beginning starts in a very routine way. Cuts are rather quick, dialog is pretty standard, and the characters don't seem to be all that unique. The story at the beginning takes place in the late 1800's, where a man is convicted of a brutal axe murdering of two women. He believes he's innocent, but others reject his desperate plea for being saved, as he is to be hanged after the jury in the court reaches a verdict of "guilty." "The Weight of Water" then cuts to present day, where a beautiful photographer, Jean Janes (Catherine McCormack) is going on an expedition with her husband (Sean Penn) and her brother and his girlfriend (Elizabeth Hurley) to figure whether or not this man who was hanged in 1873 was really innocent or not. Eventually we are treated by numerous flashbacks which illustrate what Jean Janes is thinking when she's trying to figure this whole mystery out. Looking back into time, however, distracts Janes a little from her present life, especially when in this one scene where she's at a watch tower, she attempts to have sex with her husband. This attempt fails, because Jean is caught up with trying to figure out if the murderer was really innocent.
I've been told that this movie has gotten negative reviews from many. I can see why, because the backstory in this film isn't that interesting. However, I don't think "The Weight of Water" is all that bad. In fact, it's quite good. Not a great movie, but better than most people thought it was.
The thing that really struck out for me at first, was the GORGEOUS cinematography. Again, mentioning director Kathryn Bigelow, this film almost looks completely different from her other body of work. It seems to be a complete departure. The photography is just beautiful. There is this one scene where Jean Janes walks on the rocks and sees Maren Hontvedt (Sarah Polley) jumping from one rock to another in a bleak flashback. The blueish and whiteish colors that illustrate this scene are just stunning. There is also this scary and exciting axe scene, where the one of the murdered girls is slayed. This scene is illustrated in dark colors, really haunting. As a matter of fact, I believe this scene is a lot more scary than watching any of the axe murder scenes in "Sleepy Hollow." I don't wanna give away anything else as far as cinematography goes.
With the acting, I'd say it's a lot better in the present day than for the backstory that's given. Actors such as Sarah Polley do well with their performances, but the accents could be a little less stagey and more the less sounding as if they come from the native tongue. In the present day, the acting is a lot more realistic. Sean Penn delivers one of his better performances as Jean Janes' husband, in a low-key, laid back sense (my friend was pleased by this). Catherine McCormack as Jean Janes, she's very strong and believable as a photographer. Elizabeth Hurley plays a woman who at first might have been just a bimbo looking for a hunk to give her a good dosage of sensational sex. However, she's more three-dimensional in that she does seem to want to be apart of the stimulating conversations Jean James brings up. Well, actually, the Elizabeth Hurley character does seem to be seductive, looking at Sean Penn's character in such a way, turning a dinner scene where he looks at her legs and she stares back at him looking very interested in him. By the way, Hurley is half-naked in one scene, so if you're excited in seeing her getting to be close to nude, it does happen in this film. Anyway, the actor who played Jean Janes' brother and Hurley's boyfriend, I forgot his name, but he was very well drawn out. I would say I was more interested in the characters of the present day, than the ones in the backstory.
As far as the flashbacks go, I think "The Weight of Water" is one of those better films that actually knows how to use this device well. Normally flashbacks in films are very distracting, but in this one, they actually help a lot and blend in well, helping us understand what Jean Janes is thinking when she comes to terms in solving this mystery of whether or not this convicted man was innocent or not and if what she believes is true, that a woman did commit the murdering of two women. In a sense, this film is not about the murders but rather Jean Janes herself and how she tries to figure out this mystery and how this expedition of her's is affecting her life, dramatically. For those who don't appreciate flashbacks, PERIOD, well, this isn't the film for you then.
There are those of you that will feel negatively about this film and those of you who won't, but I happen to think this is Kathryn Bigelow's best movie so far, until she proves worthy of the new K-19 movie with Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson. I think it's a very well made film and beautiful at times. It's not the greatest one out there, but at least it's not a pile of crap such as a movie like Inspector Gadget (yes, it is and you all know it is).
PLEASE GET THIS MOVIE A RELEASE!