THE CELL
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2000 David N. Butterworth
**1/2 (out of ****)
A triumph of style over substance, "The Cell" looks like the
product of a meeting between that darling of the British Film Institute
Peter Greenaway ("Prospero's Books," "The Pillow Book") and the costume
designer for "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace." It's as if they
got together one day and decided to make a horror film.
There are more elaborate gowns, sets, and funny goings on in "The
Cell" than in all of the "Star Wars" pictures combined, and if Greenaway
thinks he holds a monopoly on outrageous headgear and collars that stick
way out to here, he's got another thing coming.
"The Cell," unfortunately, remains a mixed bag because for all of
its strikingly creative visuals (think a high art version of "The Silence
of the Lambs"), it's a bit of a non-starter in the storytelling department.
Jennifer Lopez plays a pretty psychologist who's recruited to
"enter the mind" of a serial killer so that she can discover where he's
stashed his latest potential victim. The psychopath is boldly played by
Vincent D'Onofrio, looking remarkably like rocker Neil Young. The film's
title refers to a nasty little chamber in which Carl Stargher (D'Onofrio)
likes to hole up his victims (all women), eventually drowning them and
turning them into dolls with some industrial-strength bleach. This sicko
is also into body piercing and likes to suspend himself from chains with
metal rings cutting into his flesh, just for grins you understand. He also
has an albino German Shepherd and drives a Ford pickup which provides the
FBI (in the form of a scruffy-looking Vince Vaughn) with a rather easy way
of tracing him.
About that mind-entering stuff. Catherine Deane (Lopez) is
employed by a bunch of company crackpots (among them "Secrets & Lies"'
Marianne Jean-Baptiste) who have developed this dubious scientific method
for allowing one person to engage with another, cerebrally. The technique
is used for helping schizophrenic adolescents recognize and face their
fears, such as in the film's opening sequence set in a desert. What the
process amounts to is having the two willing (or not so willing in the case
of the comatose Stargher) participants outfitted in blood-red Twizzler
suits, suspended above the floor while cloths with chic microchip designs
are laid over their faces, and cranking the knob until it hits eleven!
This process allows the filmmakers, former music video director
Tarsem Singh among them, to spend most of the film buried inside Vincent
D'Onofrio's head. Think about that for a minute. If the bulk of the film
is all dream material, then they can go hog wild on the visuals, right?
And hog wild they pretty much go. It's amazing stuff indeed, and if you've
seen the prevalent trailer you'll get a good sense of what you can expect.
(I liked the visual of the three women cloaked in monochromatic Medieval
garb sitting in a plowed field, their heads held high to the sky with their
mouths wide open like baby birds. They turn to talk to Vaughn's character
but only for a moment, snapping their heads and mouths immediately back
into an upright, open position. Now *that's* the stuff of dreams!)
But where's the story? There really isn't one. But for most of
"The Cell" it won't matter; just sit back and enjoy the creepy, dazzling
ride.
--
David N. Butterworth
dnb@dca.net
Got beef? Visit "La Movie Boeuf"
online at http://members.dca.net/dnb
NOTE: This review was posted on the usenet
to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup.
Mooviees.com accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review.
Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Movie Database
In Theaters
