Secret Window on DVD
Ah, the life of a writer! An existence brimming with passion and creativity. Plenty of time to dig deep inside one’s self to till the soils of the soul so that they become rich with purpose. Tending one’s fertile imagination so that it brings forth the kind of harvest that can be enjoyed by all. Alone with the paper or screen. Armed with visions and the words to describe them. A pure form of labor that precious few can truly succeed at. Must be an amazing way to earn a living, don’t you think?
Of course, nothing in this world is free… and other trite cliche’s along those lines. The isolation required to do what a writer does, that tenacity of purpose, must surely tax the mind, body and spirit. When the resource you’re burning as fuel are your own thoughts and the tools of your trade are your mind and hands, things can get a bit exhausting. Yep, Secret Window is about the burning struggles of a full-time author.
Since the film was based on the novella Secret Window, Secret Garden by Stephen King from his Four Past Midnight compilation, I already knew the story. In the book we had a writer writing about writing. It wasn’t too bad as far as stories of that type go, in its written form, but could a MOVIE pull it off?
Here’s a quick rundown of the story. We have Mort Rainey (played by Johnny Depp) as a writer who’s soon to be divorced from his wife Amy (Maria Bello from Coyote Ugly and Permanent Midnight). Amy’s been sleeping around on Mort with Ted (Timothy Hutton of The General’s Daughter, The Dark Half) which is what leads to their break-up. Ted and Mort aren’t the grandest of friends, which is understandable given the circumstances. So, Mr. Rainey heads off to the isolation of a rural cabin where he intends to deal with his demons and fight his way back into the writing arena.
Normally I’m not much for movies that are rated under an R. Generally, they seem to try too hard to avoid the highlights of the cinematic experience, in my book. There’s almost always too much shying away from the less pleasant aspects of life. Avoiding the elements that make a story feel real to me only served to upset me because it’s crucial to my enjoyment of a film that I believe, even if only while it plays, that it COULD happen. Secret Window, surprisingly, does not disappoint in this respect. Sure there’s not a lot of gore or boobies or anything like that, but there is a lot of substance and style.
The elements of the original novella’s story were brought to life with such vision that it actually ended up enhancing the story line. I’ll be first to admit that it’s not often that anyone can enhance a King story, but the makers of Secret Window did precisely. The sense of frustration, apathy, anger and confusion are all very palpable. It’s what I’d term as ‘emotionally tactile’ if such a phrase existed. In the event that it does not, consider it just invented.
John Turturro (Fear X, Anger Management) plays the role of Rainey’s antagonistic fan John Shooter. This dear Shooter fellow is upset with Mort due to some strong feelings that Mort is plagiarizing Shooter’s work. You’ll have to actually watch the film to see how it all goes down. I’d like to offer a tip, though: stay aware. There’s a lot of symbolism in this movie and it all makes more sense when you’re prepared to watch for that sort of thing. I really wasn’t, so I needed a lot of discussion with a friend to be able to figure out what all was going on.
This is definitely a fine rental. It’s easily a 3 out of 5 for me. That may sound a bit harsh, but my rating is based on it’s suitability as a horror film. The elements are there, dark and strong, but it’d need to punch me a bit harder with the shock or creep factor in order to get those last 2 points. Overall, Secret Window is worth at least one peek through.
Until next time… have a good one!
-- by GlowStormLion of http://www.happyhorror.com
Tags: horror movies, Johnny Depp
