Genre: Thriller, Drama, Coming Of Age, Suspense
Plot: Undertow is a new, uniquely American dramatic thriller from director David Gordon Green starring Jamie Bell, Josh Lucas, Dermot Mulroney, and newcomer Devon Alan. The film is a rough-and-tumble departure for Green, whose first two movies, George Washington and All the Real Girls, drew worldwide acclaim for their quiet, lyrical sensibility. With Undertow, Green marries action, dirt, sweat, and drama as he spins a tale of the violent legacy between two generations of brothers. Dermot Mulroney plays John Munn, a hardworking father raising two sons, Chris (Jamie Bell) and Tim (Devon Alan), without their mother. John, a hog farmer and taxidermist, keeps his family in an isolated farmhouse in the woods. Chris, the older boy, feels restricted: his father relies on him to do much of the work (Chris' younger brother Tim is sickly), but Chris knows there's a world outside the family he's yearning to explore. As the film opens, Chris is throwing rocks at a pretty girl's window. The rocks he throws are too big, he throws them too hard, and next thing he knows he's running for his life, pursued by an angry father with two guns and a mean dog. Though Chris can run fast, he steps on a long, rusty nail that goes clean through his foot; he gets caught and ends up in jail. His father
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 In the moody gothic thriller ''Undertow,'' the gifted director David Gordon Green and his equally talented cinematographer Tim Orr wallow in the apocalyptic beauty of a decaying Southern landscape of pig farms, rotting shipyards and acres of rusted cars stacked six-deep in mud.--Stephen Holden (The New York Times)
Undertow will have limited appeal to mainstream audiences, who frequently do not have the patience to let a movie like this unveil its pleasures.  --James Berardinelli (ReelViews)
But the movie builds slowly to its grinding climax, and the suspense -- the standard by which a thriller must primarily be judged -- is first-rate.--Stephen Hunter (Washington Post)
A first-rate cast can’t save the wonderful if uneven ‘Undertow’ from indie film/under-distributed Hell. ... Currently in limited release, ‘Undertow’ deserves a wider audience which it will no doubt get once it’s on video.  --Harrison Cheung (Movie-Gurus.com)
For whatever faults it may have, Undertow really sings.--Chris Knipp (CineScene)
An overt device to create a measure of suspense, Green's latest project comes across like a pretentious film school exercise that some will praise for its minimalist content, but I find to be a wasted two hours on a dreary film devoid of substance.  --John Nesbit (CultureDose.net)
With only three features to his credit, David Gordon Green has become one of our most distinguishable and important modern storytellers, and “Undertow” is one of the top movies of the year.  --Dennis Swennumson (eFilmCritic.com)
Despite these flaws, Green has an undeniable skill for directing child actors, and his rendering of the American South is a thousand times more interesting and varied than anything from Hollywood that claims to depict the region. Undertow may not be a perfect film, but Green’s vision is so wholly unique in this cinematic climate that you can’t take your eyes off the events onscreen.  --Beth Gilligan (eFilmCritic.com)
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All the Real Girls, George Washington, Manic |
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| The story itself, though occasionally compelling, is mostly just a means to an end, a way to show these particular people reacting to a series of events. B+ --Eric D. Snider (EricDSnider.com)
"Undertow" is kind of all over the place. It touches upon age-old themes of brotherhood, greed and good versus evil, but what Green wants to say about this remains obscure. I still think he's an exceptional filmmaker, but this won't be one of his most memorable pictures. --Kevin N. Laforest (Montreal Film Journal)
Lucas does his best to project demonic creepiness but Deel merely comes off as the biggest cliché in a chase film filled with them.  --Jack Mathews (New York Daily News)
Undertow is intriguing, and beautiful, and skillful enough to be a passable October diversion, though I doubt it will completely satisfy anyone. Green's fans will be disappointed with the straightforward plot; those of us who love straightforward plot will be frustrated with the ways Green screws it up.--Eugene Novikov (FilmBlather)
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