Open Water

You've been seeing previews for it all summer. Or at least, the last month or so. Everyone is calling it "THE SCARIEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR!!!!" and after plenty of hype, I was convinced that I needed to see it and so, treaded out into the local otsego $3.50 movie theater and saw it. While it's not one of those movies you love while walking out (i.e., think 'requiem for a dream'....but not nearly as good, but kind of the same response in a way---if someone were to ask, 'did you like the movie?' you'd be confused as to how to really answer it). Like the movie? I suppose I liked it for it's ability to get under your skin and swish you around in intensity and then quietly spit you back out again. I liked the way it was shot, although, it could've been a little more dramatized in its execution on screen. If this is a true story or based on true events, or whatever, it definitely feels true and is played out how you or I would probably experience it. There isn't much hype in the movie itself and I felt like there should've been. Not a lot more, but just a little....to give it that edge it seemed to be missing.

It's shot on DV so in some shots, you feel like dear old dad is the cameraman, and it's just another vacation to a tropical island with him and the rest of the family. However, this turns out to be a positive and negative thing I think. On the one hand, it gives the movie a more personal, visceral feel. Its' easier to get involved b/c it's not all dressed up in the beauty film has to offer. Yet, it can be negative when the colors seem not quite as rich as they should be, or the sharpness is just a tad dull in further away shots.

Enough technical breakdown (why did i do that? i don't know....it's the kind of movie you notice that i guess). All in all, I'd recommend seeing it in the theater probably...if you don't have to pay $8. Like i said, I paid $3.50, so it was definitely worth that. However, another warning: it isn't your typical summer thriller. Most people in the theater i saw it in was liking it until near the end and then it seemed as though 90% of them hated it or just got fed up with or were laughing when should'n't have been, etc. I hate when people do that. (Oh, and one more odd thing that bugged me kind of---the random nudity near the beginning of the movie. it feels out of place, odd, awkward and very very cheap. i usually am not taken aback by nudity unless its gratutious, but in this case, i believe it was. my opinion though i guess.) Tell me what YOU all think, for those who saw it. My sister tiff hated it i think, although she was really freaked out by it. It was pretty freaky in parts. Au revoir.