Secret Window (DVD)

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TITLE: Secret Window

RATING: ***

CAST: Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello, Timothy Hutton, Charles S. Dutton, Len Cariou, Joan Henley, John Dunn-Hill, Vlasta Vrana, Matt Holland, Gillian Ferrabee, Bronwen Mantel, Elizabeth Marleau, Richard Jutras, Kevin Woodhouse, Vito DeFelippo, Sarah Allen.

DIRECTOR: David Koepp

STUDIO: Columbia Pictures

RUNNING TIME: 96 min. ...
...of them was “Secret Window, Secret Garden.” Tonight I will be reviewing the 2004 film SECRET WINDOW, which is based on that particular King short story.

The one and only reason why I wanted to see this film (as I’m sure its the reason most people wanted to see it) and was Johnny Depp. However, I was also interested when I learned it was from writer-director David Koepp, who surely has an impressive resume, of which I will be going ... more

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TITLE: Secret Window

RATING: ***

CAST: Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello, Timothy Hutton, Charles S. Dutton, Len Cariou, Joan Henley, John Dunn-Hill, Vlasta Vrana, Matt Holland, Gillian Ferrabee, Bronwen Mantel, Elizabeth Marleau, Richard Jutras, Kevin Woodhouse, Vito DeFelippo, Sarah Allen.

DIRECTOR: David Koepp

STUDIO: Columbia Pictures

RUNNING TIME: 96 min.

RATING: 12A (UK), PG-13 (US); for violence, language, and a scene of suggested sexuality.

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SOME WINDOWS SHOULD NEVER BE OPENED
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I will be the first one to admit that I’m not a huge fan of Stephen King’s works. I read “Carrie,” and “Cujo,” while in high school and enjoyed them for the most part, and while in college I read “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption,” which would eventually become the greatest King adaptation to the screen in 1994. However, I’m not big on reading horror, which is what King is really famous for. Some of his novels have been morphed into some pretty bad films, most notably 1984’s CHILDREN OF THE CORN, and 1989’s PET SEMETARY and GRAVEYARD SHIFT. To be honest, I don’t really find him intellectually stimulating, though I certainly see why he is one of the most read author’s around. So, I guess you could say I find him overrated, though I still respect him as a writer, particularly from what I have read from him. In 1990, he published a series of short stories under the title “Four Past Midnight,” and one of them was “Secret Window, Secret Garden.” Tonight I will be reviewing the 2004 film SECRET WINDOW, which is based on that particular King short story.

The one and only reason why I wanted to see this film (as I’m sure its the reason most people wanted to see it) and was Johnny Depp. However, I was also interested when I learned it was from writer-director David Koepp, who surely has an impressive resume, of which I will be going into more detail later. Also, from first glance, it seemed like an interesting and suspenseful psychological thriller and with Depp as the star, I knew it would be more than watchable. As it turns out, dear readers, I was quite disappointed, and I will eventually explain why. If you do want to see this film, by all means please do, whether you are a fan of Depp, King or even Koepp, though I warn you that you might be disappointed as well.

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DEPP IS ACCUSED OF LITERARY FRAUD
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In SECRET WINDOW, Johnny Depp plays Mort Rainey, a gifted and admired short story writer who finds his life at the lowest point. The film has a striking opening sequence, in which Rainey is sitting in his car, staring out into space, and trying to make himself not drive back from where he came from. We discover he is in the parking lot of a motel, and he does drive back quite angered, grabs a key to a room that obviously isn’t his, and he goes in. There is a man and women in bed who, at this point, are still unidentified. Six months later, Rainey has reduced himself to living in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, very unhappy and not taking care of himself. He is a dreadful sight in a torn bathrobe, an avalanche of messed up hair (it was clear to me that his hygiene had dropped considerably as well), and on top of all that, he is suffering from a severe case of writer’s block. However, it is also clear that he is in a state of depression, never going out and meeting or talking to people. One morning, a most unusual person visits him.

Enter John Shooter, a hick from down South who comes to accuse Rainey of stealing his short story, “Sewing Season,” which is about a man who kills his wife and buries the body. Rainey is shocked at this accusation and is asked to be left alone, but Shooter persists and even starts to threaten him. Rainey shrugs off this encounter soon after Shooter departs, and then he receives a call from his wife Amy; they have remained separated for sometime, and Rainey is obviously not too enthusiastic about talking to her, even though he knows very well that he must sign the divorce papers very soon. Ultimately, it is sleep that Rainey only wants, as it is impossible for him to write and can’t really find anything better to do. Shooter returns several times, making even more threats, while at the same time Rainey is trying to convince him that he wrote the story first, claiming it had appeared in a 1995 magazine 2 years before Shooter even started to write it. Again, Shooter refuses to believe it, and soon comes out with a most unusual request: that Rainey re-write the story with Shoote’s ending, which was changed completely. Again, Rainey ignores him, but soon things become out of hand.

First off, Rainey’s poor dog is found killed in front of his cabin, then the home that he and his wife lived in is burned to the ground by an unknown arsonist. Was it Shooter? Since that is Rainey’s only known enemy at this point it seems logical, though he soon finds a new enemy in Ted Milner, the man who is wife had been sleeping around with prior to their breakup. Ted seems intent on making Rainey sign the divorce papers, even when Rainey is trying to deal with Shooter, even going so far as hiring a private investigator named Ken Karsch (and old buddy of his) to sniff Shooter out. What follows is a series of unexplained events as Shooter terrorizes Mort, even going as far as going after Amy, and then several murders begin. I think this will be the perfect time to stop, considering the fact that the plot develops with more twists leading to a “surprise,” ending which (at least to me), wasn’t much of a surprise.

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CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT JOHNNY JUST TURNED 41 YEARS OLD?
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Yep, that’s right...Depp turned 41 only three weeks ago. He certainly doesn’t look it, especially in this film, though I’m sure that some makeup was applied. However, I’m not here to describe Depp’s sexy appearance but rather his performance as Mort Rainey. Once again he proves that he is one of the most underrated actors in the business, and he is completely mesmerizing in this film. From the opening shot of him staring coldly into the camera, to his very last scene which will cause a rather uncomfortable reaction to the viewer, he sells Rainey extremely well. Sure, it may not be Capt. Jack Sparrow, though he certainly makes the film palatable...though, unfortunately, if it weren’t for him, the film would be a waste of time, at least in my opinion. As with all his performances, I love his little eccentricities, and here he has more than one can count. His relationship with cigarettes plays an important role, believe it or not, as he quit long ago, yet is fighting his urge with one final pack he finds. At several times, he exhibits a weird clicking jaw feature that serves his personality well, and he even provides wonderful little moments of humor here and there.

On the DVD director’s commentary, Koepp mentions that the reason why he thought Depp would be ideal for this role is his ability to act frightened as an actor---which is very rare in today’s business, when most want to be macho or be prepared for anything, you could say. There is the standard number of “scare” sequences in this film that, while are quite overly familiar, that somehow manage to work because of Depp’s performance. I loved Depp in almost all his films, most notably EDWARD SCISSORHANDS and ED WOOD; and even with a rather mediocre film like this, he proves he can make any film watchable. Plus, he is surrounded by a fine supporting cast, though most of them cannot match Depp in terms of his performance. John Turturro is a highly respected actor, though I found him to be wasted in this film, sporting an unbelievable, laughable accent; granted, his character is supposed to be menacing, though I found it to be more silly than scary. For instance, there is one sequence late in the film where, to top of his series of threats towards Depp, he even goes as far as saying, “By the way, you have my hat; I want my hat back when I come back over.” What is so moronic is that he left the hat at Mort’s place to begin with!!!"

Maria Bello (COYOTE UGLY) is alarmingly one-note as Amy, who seems to sleep walk throughout the whole film, and she is not even believable as being a bitch. Then again, her character was awkwardly written to begin with, but I’ve never seen Bello give a good performance, and this film confirmed that even more. Charles S. Dutton, however, is quite good as Ken, and provides some comic relief as well, just like Depp. The biggest surprise to me in the cast, however, was Timothy Hutton as Ted. For those of you who don’t know, he won an Best Supporting Oscar for ORDINARY PEOPLE, my favorite film of all time, in which he played a suicidal teenager feeling guilt after losing his brother in a mysterious boating accident. Since then, he has never reached that level of greatness again, appearing in more minor film role like this one. He is only in a couple of scenes, though he still managed to churn out a fine performance, as this driven man who only has one goal: to get Rainey out of his and Amy’s life forever. I’m sure the audience isn’t going to care much about him, though it was a treat for me to see him acting again, which he rarely does anymore.

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WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY
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The Stephen King novella was adapted to the screen by David Koepp (his last name is pronounced ‘Kep,’ by the way), who also served as director. Believe it or not, but you probably have seen more than a few films he was written. In 1993, he reached the big time with his adapted scripts for JURASSIC PARK and CARLITO’S WAY. He would later write the screenplays for such hits as MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, THE LOST WORLD, PANIC ROOM and finally, SPIDER-MAN. He also has proved to be a competent director as well; his first attempt was the 1996 thriller THE TRIGGER EFFECT about a massive blackout, though my favorite film by him is STIR OF ECHOES, which he adapted from the Richard Matheson novel of the same name, and starred Kevin Bacon as a man who is put under hypnosis and starts to see unexplained visions. Like those first two directorial efforts, SECRET WINDOW is a stylish, potentially creepy film that just doesn’t have the originality of TRIGGER and the intensity of ECHOES.

His screenplay is acceptable only in certain scenes, not as a whole, and he seems to wander off aimlessly from time to time in both the dialogue and its flow. In his commentary, he states that Roman Polanski and Alfred Hitchcock heavily influenced him though, more often than not, I felt he was ripping them off more than paying homage to them. (Roman Polanski’s 1966 thriller THE TENANT is subtly referenced many times in the film). However, SECRET WINDOW surely does have its moments; I especially liked his injection of humor in several scenes, which are meant to offset the suspense, though it worked more as a device than anything else, considering the film isn’t all that suspenseful. Thus, the main problem I had with the film was that it was too familiar and, needless to say, I predicted the ending about halfway into the film. Koepp’s direction was acceptable as well, but here again, it is flawed and doesn’t exhibit his usual touch and flair---which he put forth in his previous efforts, particularly STIR OF ECHOES, which was exceptionally well crafted, aside from being almost unbearably intense at times.

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TWO GREAT ACTORS IN ONE GREAT SCENE
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While there are several sequences in SECRET WINDOW that stand out; the only one that I personally thought was memorable was the one at the gas station where Hutton and Depp accidentally run into each other. This is also where Koepp’s writing shines at its brightest, as both characters are talking about very different things, though of course each of them aren’t aware of it. Earlier in the film, after the house had burned down, an argument ensued between Ted and Mort in which Ted was trying to get involved in the settlement (when technically it wasn’t his house); Mort accuses him of being a “rubbernecker,”---a term, which I admit, I’ve never heard before until now. This is also trigger’s Mort’s suspicion that Ted might have hired Shooter; later on, they meet up at this gas station near Mort’s house, and Ted claims he is coming there to make Mort sign the divorce papers, though Mort thinks that he coming to meet with Shooter for the next phase of terrorizing Mort. Watching these two great actors (or at least, two of my favorites) going to head and head was terrific, and I think both of their performances reach a high point in this scene.

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KOEPP’S COLLEAGUES ADD SUPPORT
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It wasn’t a big surprise to me that many of the crewmembers that Koepp worked with on his previous directorial efforts were along for this new thriller. First off, we have editor Jill Savitt for tightening up the pace of SECRET WINDOW well enough, though she still could have made some other trims I thought; there is a few scenes involving Depp’s housekeeper which I felt were out of place. The cinematography by Fred Murphy was not bad, as he used the colors of red and blue to great effect, though he overindulges occasionally, such as when shoots the nighttime scenes with a flaccid level of darkness; his work on STIR OF ECHOES, here again, was much more recognizable. Howard Cumming’s production design is quite impressive, particularly with how he fashioned Depp’s cabin with a contrast of lifelessness and vividness. However, this was the first time that Koepp worked with celebrated composer Philip Glass (KOYAANISQATSI), though in this instance, I found Glass’ score overly reminiscent of great scores of the past (particularly on Polanski’s films). While everyone did a creditable job for the most part, I still was thoroughly unimpressed and disappointed by their efforts which (like Koepp), was far from their potential. Everything about SECRET WINDOW just felt recycled to me, despite the crewmember’s efforts to make it fresh.

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SPECIAL FEATURES ON THE DVD
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The DVD on Region 2 probably won’t be released until the Fall, though I will give you all here in the UK a description of what you will be expecting despite a anamorphic widescreen copy of the film. The most amusing feature for me was the audio commentary by Koepp, who discusses everything on casting to adapting the novella to choice of shots and techniques which he claims to have carried over from his previous films, even though I thought they weren’t used nearly as effectively. Koepp speaks very intelligently, and I was never bored by it, though I still would have preferred him to be joined by Depp or maybe even a crewmember. Maybe it is just me, though I prefer multi-person commentaries; if you love this film, then you are sure to like listening to what Koepp has to say about the making of the film.

There are also a handful of deleted scenes, which were quite repetitive, particularly one that showed the shadowy figure setting fire to the house; I have to say that Koepp made a wise choice to remove all of them. There are also three featurettes featuring interviews with the cast and crew which you can choose to view separately (each lasting 20 minutes) or watch them all in succession running over an hour. I wasn’t all that riveted by any of them though, here again, if you like the film and buy the DVD, then by all means, check them out. Expectedly, there are some theatrical trailers as well, and the one I liked immensely was the one for SPIDER-MAN 2, which opens July 15 here in the UK. Plus, in case you are interested, there is the usual assortment of subtitle/audio features, including French subtitles, 5.1 Audio or SurroundSound.

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RECOMMENDED FOR FANS OF THE AUTHOR AND STAR
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As I mentioned before, I recommend this film mainly for fans of King and Depp, and I’m sure fans of the author will want to start by reading the short story first before delving into this uninspired adaptation. The paperback of “Four Past Midnight,” which contains the novella “Secret Window, Secret Garden,” was re-released in March of this year by Signet Publishers, and is available for less than 5 quid at www.amazon.co.uk; the ISBN is 0451213599. You can also obtain an audiocassette set performed by King, Kerry Shale, and Lee Montague, released by BBC radio for 11 quid, and its ISBN number is 0563477725. The Region 1 DVD is available currently for about 15 pounds, and I’m not entirely sure of the release of SECRET WINDOW on Region 2, though I’m sure it will be sometime this fall. I do recommend a rental before you decide to buy the film. Hope you enjoy the film, and I look forward to hearing your comments!!! Also, to those that were looking forward to reading my review on ICE CASTLES, I’m still working on it and should have it done this week. Cheers for now!!! Chris xxxxx

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QUOTES AND TRIVIA SECTION
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1) “Why did you call me Amy?” --- Johnny Depp “I just wanted to see how you were, anything could happen to you out there and nobody would even know it.” --- Maria Bello “I would know!” --- Johnny Depp

2) “How in the hell did you a big money-scrubbin’ asshole like you get down to a little sh*tsplat town in Mississippi and steal my goddamn story?” --- John Turturro “Because I didn’t, you ignorant hick! I published in a magazine back in 1995!!!” --- Johnny Depp

3) “Anytime somebody sits down and writes ‘No Police!’ is exactly the time a fella should get himself over to the police, no matter what the threat is!” --- Len Cariou

4) “Nope...No monsters up here!” --- Charles S. Dutton “Did you check under my bed?” --- Johnny Depp “Hell, I even checked in your toy chest!” --- Charles S. Dutton

5) “I thought you didn’t smoke, Rainey?!” --- John Turturro “I took it up recently for my health!” --- Johnny Depp

6) “I’m sorry, excuse me, do you intend to rubberneck?” --- Johnny Depp “Well, I hardly think that my concern could be construed as rubbernecking!” --- Timothy Hutton

7) “I don’t think Shooter’s just some nut. We need to consider the possibility that he was hired to do this. Someone with a grudge against you hires a tough guy to rattle ya, scare you to death!” --- Charles S. Dutton

8) “I know what you are up to, just to let you know!” --- Johnny Depp “Look, Mort, I know a lot of what is going on is my fault. Most of it in fact. I just want you out of our lives.” --- Timothy Hutton “Hey, listen, I buried my dog, Mister!!!” --- Johnny Depp

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Trivia Note #1: Chico, who plays Depp’s dog in the film, is 11 years old and completely blind; sadly, he died shortly before the film was released.

Trivia Note #2: Timothy Hutton’s dad, Jim Hutton, played in a television series called the Ellory Queen, which is the same name of the magazine in which Mort Rainey published the story that Shooter claims he stole.

Trivia Note #3: In one scene, Johnny Depp says in his mind, “This is not my beautiful house. This is not my beautiful wife. Anymore.” This was actually a line sung in a song by the 1980s band Talking Heads.

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