Wednesday, June 9, 2010
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Wednesday, June 9, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW
Splice
The Joys And Sorrows Of
Bringing Up Baby
Delphine Chanéac as Dren (foreground) and Sarah Polley as Elsa in Vincenzo
Natali's sci-fi horror film "Splice", which opened across the U.S. and Canada
last Friday. Warner Brothers/Dark Castle
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Sly, smart and often very good, "Splice" is an unexpected treasure. The
film focuses on scientists Elsa (Sarah Polley) and Clive (Adrien Brody), who
defy convention and achieve a breakthrough of wild, adorably nightmarish
proportions: a human-animal hybrid named Dren. The corporate lab facility
in which this concoction occurs is NERD, and after Dren is more or less "born
free" (recall Elsa the lioness in the book?), the hi-jinks just get started,
especially after two specimens affectionately known as, yes, Ginger and Fred,
start to dance very vigorously.
Vincenzo Natali directs a film that is a distinct, delightful cocktail of horror
and sci-fi, paying homage to everything from "Rosemary's Baby", "THX1138" (an
ode to sci-fi bald heads?) and "Alien", to more obvious movies like
"Frankenstein" and "The Fly". Mr. Natali has a keen sense not only of the
genres from which these films spring, but a suitable visual style evoking each,
with good cinematography (Tetsuo Nagata) that is subtle and stark.
"Splice" works best when tongue-in-cheek, which it almost always is.
The actors poke fun albeit subtly at the horror and sci-fi genres, and barely
manage to refrain from bursting into full-throated laughter, parodying endless
films to great effect. It takes the right kind of actors to do this, and
Ms. Polley, who has a cheeky Jane Goodall moment early on, and Mr. Brody,
brilliant in both his underplaying of Clive, are a perfect match. Mr.
Brody's conveyance of Clive's knowing absurdity of the whole situation the film
is trapped in is priceless and always fun.
There's a moment where Clive asks another character to pass him a specimen or
antidote, but the character could just as well be handing Clive a GPS or a ham
sandwich, such is the deftness of the comedy underlying "Splice". The film
ventures close to camp but doesn't achieve it -- it isn't particularly aiming
for that result. Mr. Natali's film isn't so much horror as it is a comedy
of horrors, which makes "Splice" thoroughly enjoyable. Save for one scene,
"Splice" isn't particularly violent or graphic.
As I watched this film I sensed that it may have gone over some audience
members' heads, such was the general reaction at the closing credits and for the
most part throughout the entire film. Maybe they expected a conventional
horror film. Some may find this film too clever for its own good.
Though hardly dense, "Splice" has more going on than meets the eye. Even
if some of what we see is bizarre at best, and Mr. Natali and his co-writers'
third act shakes precariously, the evolution of "Splice", which features good
work from Delphine Chanéac submerged in prosthesis and visual effects make-up as
Dren, is more terrific than terrifying.
With: Brandon McGibbon, Simona Maicanescu, David Hewlett, Abigail Chu.
"Splice" is rated R by the Motion Picture
Association Of America for disturbing elements including strong sexuality,
nudity, sci-fi violence and language. The film's duration is one hour and
44 minutes.
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