MOVIES: Secret Window

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Well, I finally broke down and got HBO. One of my very earliest entries was partly about how I refused to sign up for HBO because DirecTV wouldn't just let me get the one HBO, the plain ol' no frills original HBO. I had to sign up for the HBO Package, which includes seven, count 'em, HBO variations. If you want HBO at all, you also have to get (and pay for) HBO West, and HBO2, and HBO2 West, and HBO Family, HBO Family Goddam West, and HBO Signature, which I honestly don't know what the hell that one's all about, but at least there's no frickin' West version of it.

Screw DirecTV! That was my opinion. I don't need your stupid original shows anyway. Not even The Sopranos. Not for twelve bucks a goddam month I don't.

Then I rented the first seasons of Carnivale and Deadwood on DVD. And all of a sudden, I was signing up for HBO. Damn you, quality programming!! You win again, TV! You win again!!!

Anyhoo. Now I've got 93 frickin' HBOs. So I figured I'd better start watchin' stuff on 'em, to make it worth my while. Last night, I watched Secret Window.

It's based on a Stephen King story, and I had honestly thought that, up until From a Buick 8 (which I couldn't finish), I had read every word King had ever written. Guess not. This is based on the novella "Secret Window, Secret Garden" from the book Four Past Midnight, a book which I could've sworn I had read. But when I looked it up on King's website, only the description of the first of the four stories in the book sounded at all familiar to me (and not just because it was made into a TV movie). I'd never read the story this film is based on after all -- which turned out to be a good thing, because that meant the twists and shocks in the movie were all new to me.

The film stars Johnny Depp (which means right off the bat you know you're in good hands) as a writer who is in the middle of a nasty divorce from his wife (Maria Bello), and is holed up in their summer cabin while she lives in their house with the man she slept with while they were married (Timothy Hutton -- who happened to have starred in the worst Stephen King film I've ever seen*). Depp is trying to use this alone time to write, but he's hopelessly writer-blocked. Enter John Turturro, who comes to Depp's door and announces Depp has stolen a story from him, and he's going to have to make things right. Or else.

It's a pretty darn good thriller, I have to say. Turturro is suitably menacing (although his thick Mississippi accent doesn't really work), and Depp's performance as a man who is losing his wife, possibly his writing career, and who knows what else, is, as always, excellent. Sometimes the pacing passes beyond suspenseful into just plain slow, but overall it's a solid directing job by screenwriter David Koepp (who's written a lot of blockbusters, like Jurassic Park, but has only directed a handful of films, of which I've only seen one other, Stir of Echoes with Kevin Bacon).

In fact, one sequence right at the top of the film impressed me a great deal. Depp is in his car, and the camera is mounted to the hood, facing him. He's debating whether or not to confront his wife and her lover. He decides to leave, and the car whips around as he exits the motel parking lot -- camera still firmly positioned directly in front of Depp. He stops, and changes his mind, and slams the car into reverse -- but the camera remains stationary this time, and we see Depp and his car receding into the distance. This is all in one unbroken take, and obviously done without CGI tricks. I don't think I've ever seen something like that in a film, and it really surprised me. It's a minor thing, most likely easily accomplished, and probably wouldn't even register with most people watching the film, but to me it demonstrated a creative and innovative directorial skill.

One movie down. About a hundred more to watch before I feel like twelve bucks is a reasonable investment in my many, many HBOs.

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*Okay, let me qualify that: the worst theatrically-released Stephen King film I've ever seen. But keep in mind, I've never seen Dreamcatcher.