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Depend on Depp
Secret Window (English)
Cast: Johnny Depp, John Turturro
Director: David Koepp
STEPHEN KING'S books are a great favourite with filmmakers. Secret Window, based on King's short story Secret Window, Secret Garden, however is no Carrie (Brian De Palma) or The Shining (Stanley Kubrick directed Jack Nicholson). The film has many of King's favourite motifs including a writer's block, a pet dog and an isolated cabin by the lake. The plot is super thin and seemed stretched even at its short running time of 90 minutes.
The story is of Mort Rainey, a successful writer, in the middle of messy divorce with a massive writer's block. Staying in a cabin by the lake, Mort sleeps 16 hours a day on his couch and holds desultory conversations with himself and his dog. One fine day, Mort's life is spun around when John Shooter bangs on his front door and accuses Mort of plagiarism.
Mort is convinced that he has not stolen Shooter's story but Shooter is equally convinced he has and demands his due. Things spiral out of control and without any help from the law, Mort realises he has to rely on his wits to get out of the mess.
Written and directed by David Koepp, Secret Window is actually a treat for the movie buff. There are puzzle shots that any cinephile worth his/her salt would like to figure out. Chief among them is The Magritte Shot named after the famous surrealist painting where a man looks at himself in the mirror and the reflection is of the back of the man's head. Go figure.
Koepp who also wrote that other smart thriller Panic Room has written an intelligent film with a great deal of care for character continuity. When Mort returns to his couch, he says, "now where were we?" before curling up to sleep, the line effectively distils Mort's loneliness, his ennui and his disassociation from the proceedings.
The other reason why one can enjoy the film is for Johnny Depp. The man has delivered yet another solid performance as Mort. He makes Mort's character his own from the unkempt thatch of hair to the lived in frayed bathrobe that he potters about in.
It is unfortunate that designing for those grand period dramas get the Oscars while the kind of detailing in this film where the bathrobe ages through the film are largely ignored. Watch the movie if you like to figure out how movies are put together or to applaud yet another crackerjack performance by Capt. Eccentric.
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