Secret Window (2004)
If they are going to continue to
make movies out of Stephen King's words (as if they
would stop), lets hope the films continue to be at
least as good as "Secret Window." Although not a perfect
film - and one that falls apart at the end - it has
several things about it that make it quite enjoyable
for almost its entire run time.
First there is an intelligent and
witty script by David Koepp, who also steps behind
the camera. While Koepp has often failed to impress
me (he is as hit-and-miss as King), he does know how
to evoke suspense. This is, after all, the guy who
wrote "The Panic Room" and "Bad Influence." Koepp
writes a tight, taunt thriller here and at times it
keeps us right on the edge of our seat. His direction
backs up the suspense in his script perfectly.
Koepp is also smart enough to cast
two of the best actors out there as the leads. If
anyone can carry a picture for 90 minutes all by himself,
it is Johnny Depp. The actor is a powerhouse of whirling
energy even when playing the lethargic character he
plays here. Depp is the kind of actor who can make
talking to himself seem honest and realistic. That
is very important here since he spends nearly all
of his screen time alone in a cabin.
Likewise, if you had to have an
actor play a demented hick molded by King's obvious
hands, there is no better choice than John Turturro.
The actor who often plays bumpkins in movies, especially
those by the Coen Brothers, does a perfect job of
keeping his character just this side of caricature.
He never once steps over the line and, in Depp, finds
an actor capable of playing off of him perfectly.
In the hands of two lesser actors, this film would
be absurdist.
"Secret Window" is the kind of movie
King should insist on when he sells his work to Hollywood.
Often smart, witty and engrossing, the film's plot
only unspools when King's obvious and poorly written
ending spirals so far out of control that even Bill
Shakespeare himself couldn't save it. Koepp, at least,
makes it funny and intense. Somehow, he manages to
elevate the schlock author's work to as close to high
art as it as come since Stanley Kubrick was alive.
Note:
Also with Maria Bello, Timothy Hutton,
Charles Dutton and Len Cariou.
Score by Philip Glass which often
emulates Bernard Herrmann more than it does Glass'
expected music.
Based on the King novella "Secret
Window, Secret Garden," which was, at one time, going
to be the title of the film.
King's name was rarely mentioned
in any promotion for the film.
Filmed in Canada and New York.
At one point Depp answers the phone
and there is a book by Hunter S. Thompson on the coffee
table. Depp played a character somewhat based on Thompson
in the filming of the author's classic book "Fear
and Loathing in Las Vegas" in 1998.
Viewed in Austin in March 2004.
