'Wakefield'; 'The Shallows' - 2 short film reviews

Wakefield Trailer #1 (2017) | Movieclips Trailers

Movieclips Trailers


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Wakefield (2016 film)

....based on the short story of same name by E. L. Doctorow, which was in turn inspired by the 1835 story of the same title by Nathaniel Hawthorne.... this story made for and adapted well into a very different type of film. This is a good film. I suppose different people would have very different reactions to it. In short, it was about a very successful NYC attorney, with a beautiful home and two children in the suburbs, who sort've fell upon the idea to hide out in an attic for at least two or three months.... apparently to watch what occurs. "The plot thickens" as he said as the chaos of his absence began (the character narrates the experience). Basically he and his wife were having some serous social-interaction issues to the point of even questioning each others' character on some level. Since I didn't take any notes, I am unable to delve into that; however that part is complex, and most of the negativity that he may have attached to his wife was from his own false perceptions. For example, he used "jealousy" to arouse himself and had her role play it.... in other words, he planted that seed. Also, he wasn't close to his two young daughters... as he hardly even saw them.

At certain points, I thought of him at merely a very well-to-do guy who wanted some type of chaos or excitement. However it came about, he goes through a spiritual awakening. If even just through the pragmatic activity of his newfound existence (ex. eating from garbage containers), he embraces an element of piety. His initial encounter with raccoons symbolizes his new reality; his new unkempt beard almost seems to symbolize that he's living like an animal or that he's living like a raccoon. With that, he experiences a different type of freedom. Scenes showing his workplace of a downtown in NYC in relation to his home, which appears almost rural-suburban was not lost upon me... and may have symbolized something. Maybe that he went from the king of the downtown skyline to living like a raccoon... or getting back to nature... back to simpler things. He took a train to work, which also seemed to imply that his home may have been forty or fifty miles away... from skyline to treeline.

At some point he's discovered by two developmentally disabled teens or young adults who were living next door to him. He befriends them, and has some fun and laughs with them. Prior to that, he felt animosity towards the neighbor who was sponsoring them; in other words, he may well have thought of them as unworthy of his time. However now he was enjoying their simple friendship; very different from the cutthroat relationships that he engaged in downtown. He saw the comparative innocence in their nature and valued it. He told them to keep quiet about him living there, and they did. Later, he asked them not to come around as it was getting too risky for him. However, soon he was feeling ill and was hungry.. and they brought him food. He was moved by their kindness.

He observes all of the goings-on from the circular top story window (symbolizing a "portal," at times glowing in the dark room) of the family's garage unit across the street, which seems to have been on the third floor. So he was socially very far from his hub in downtown NYC, and even far enough away from the home unit to observe in private. There's one point where he is walking along at night amid the tall trees, with bright street lamps shining magnificently around them, and he says "I never left my family. I left myself. Unshackled, I will become the Howard Wakefield I was meant to be." In a roundabout way, life, responsibilities, and pressure in a big city can be like wearing shackles. Everything is about the politic... people don't really even know themselves. He mentions at one point that he was seeing his children more than he ever had before, and finally he sees his wife rejecting the advances of one adversarial colleague of his... and she never does cheat on him.

At one point he says that he loves his wife much more "now".. than he ever had before. Many didn't like the ending, which leaves it up to the imagination. Bryan Cranston plays Howard Wakefield, and is a very good actor; and Jennifer Garner plays his wife Diana Wakefield, and is a good actress when she's not talking baby-talk in Capital One commercials. As far as wondering what finally occurred, I wonder if it was something like what transformed in the film "Regarding Henry', where a jerk attorney was shot in the head and had to start over again.. and became a different person, then loved by his young daughter whom he has been distant. Also, I love the concept of mood-changing different comparative environments; the films 'Copland' and 'Unfaithful' come to mind.






THE SHALLOWS - Official Trailer #2 (HD)

Sony Pictures Entertainment

In the taut thriller The Shallows, when Nancy (Blake Lively) is surfing on a secluded beach, she finds herself on the feeding ground of a great white shark. Though she is stranded only 200 yards from shore, survival proves to be the ultimate test of wills, requiring all of Nancy's ingenuity, resourcefulness, and fortitude.


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The Shallows (2016 film)

'The Shallows' is a survival thriller, maybe not as deep as others that come to mind for me--such as 'Jeremiah Johnson', 'Jaws' or 'The Edge'--but I liked it. Blake Lively plays the part of a medical student who is taking a trip by herself down to Baja California (actually filmed in Australia) to surf; to the same secluded beach that her recently passed-away mother had visited when she was pregnant with her. So it starts with a life-transforming experience that soon becomes explicitly so. There's more to her personal life that more defines why this trip is important to her; mostly revolving around the fact that she was very affected by her mother's death.

This was an interesting role for Lively because clearly this woman has a certain energy to her; much more than being pretty or sexy, Blake Lively is just plain cool.. without even trying. Years ago an older man said to me that he thought Burt Reynolds was the only cool person in Hollywood; I would suggest now that Blake Lively is the only cool person in Hollywood. Often that doesn't translate well to this type of role beyond mixing danger with sex appeal for box office success. However, I think she did a very good job here. This was a very brutal film that keeps one at the edge of their seat through a large part of it. One interesting nuance is the presence of a small injured sea gull, whom she befriends while stranded on a rock... and even pushes its wing back into its socket. I don't want to give too much away since it would take away from the thrill of the film.

The film, although some aspects of it may be something of a stretch, brought out the brutal side of nature. Several weeks ago I was watching one of those white butterflies out the window, which to me represent a certain serenity.... then abruptly a small bird took off after it; eventually catching it and landing on a tree branch to finish the meal.... brutal. The movie has lots of blood and death, but delivered in a slow methodical manner. I think just the above description from the trailer says it all. Just like the massive Kodiak bear from 'The Edge', this Great White Shark symbolizes the brutal side of nature... and was literally a "monster."

There are also some frantic moments where she must endure and treat severe injury, so it gets rather intense. The ending scene is in some way, similar to the ending scene in 'Jaws'... you remember... "I used to hate the water"....... "I can't imagine why"...... danger over, back to nature's tranquility. Also, the protagonist's easy nature in such sharp contrast with this killing machine.

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