Open Water, Garden State

OPEN WATER: We haven't had a true successor to THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, or even a movie that has attempted to become one, since that film came out in 1999. And sure, there were plenty of video knockoffs on the web that circulated around, but none were released on thousands of screens nationwide. This recalls that horror film due to its shot-on-video, oh-my-God-this-is-really-happening vibe, based on a true story (This one takes its story from Tom and Eileen Lonergan, left behind in The Great Barrier Reef in 1998). Here, a couple (Blanchard Ryan, Daniel Travis) go deep-sea scuba diving with a number of other paying adventurers, and due to a head-count mishap, are left behind as sharks and jellyfish loom. The terror comes from the camera just bobbing along with the abandoned pair, as they plan, speculate, and argue while unknown sea creatures lurk around ready to strike at any moment, which they do, and only then does the camera take a dip down underneath to show you that which our couple is reacting--playing the sort of Hitchcock game where we know where the danger is but the people don't. The sharks don't just start a feeding frenzy, they just bump into them occasionally, which amps up the tension. There are many critics who are just crazy over this, and this movie does indeed give you a quick thrill (running time: 79 minutes), but most of the time you will be looking at this couple and their situation and saying, "That would suck," instead of being genuinely afraid.

GARDEN STATE: A true, nonsense-free romance from "Scrubs" actor Zach Braff, who wrote, directed, and stars in this film about a struggling actor coming back home for his mother's funeral. While there, he runs into a bevy of old acquaintances and fresh faces, in the usual sense of a confused, lost soul who begins to find what he's looking for in his old stomping grounds. Braff plays Andrew Largeman, who reacts to everyone in a laid-back, easy manner, not willing to offend, very agreeable, and often hilarious. He meets Sam (Natalie Portman) at a doctor's office, a sweet, funny girl who also happens to be a compulsive liar, who also knows she's a liar and willingly admits what she lies about, who becomes the obvious love-interest target--but the romance unfolds in such a natural, un-Hollywood way that it is refreshing beyond belief. He also meets old-acquaintance Mark (the quickly becoming one of my favorite actors, Peter Sarsgaard--see my 11/25/03 review of SHATTERED GLASS), a man who digs graves and enjoys scamming for extra cash. The dialogue in this film is extremely natural, it has an I've-been-there quality that instantly makes you feel at home, and then there's some very funny oddball stuff that appears every once in awhile, but this film is also quite a good drama--not a heavy drama by any means, it hails the Wes Anderson school of filmmaking. And yes, the soundtrack to this movie is great. The best thing about this is the trio of actors (Braff, Sarsgaard, and Portman), with Portman giving her best performance ever. She has made a living portraying precocious girls who are thrust into situations not befitting of children, and now that she's a woman it is wonderful to see her adapt to an adult role (and let's not kid ourselves, she's insanely hot). This is an early best-of-the-year film for me, and good to see that it lived up to its awesome trailer.

If you want to know what I thought of WITHOUT A PADDLE, I reviewed it way back on July 8.