Picture This! Reviews The Clearing – DVD Release

Reprinted from NotesFromHollywood.com

Some people chose movies by the star, some by the director, and some by interest sparked by the trailer, at least promotional people would like to think so. I’ll admit to a little of each of these methods of choice on occasion.

Robert Redford isn’t as “sure” a pick as say, maybe Gene Hackman, but he is still a draw. Helen Mirren ranks up there with Judi Dench and Vanessa Redgrave as always reliable for a stellar performance. So, when The Clearing caught my eye on the New Releases shelf at the video store, I didn’t hesitate.

I told myself that the reason it disappeared from the theaters so quickly was probably the oft cited “youth demographic” that the studios cater to. Oh, how I wish that had been the case.

The Clearing is the first directorial effort of Pieter Jan Brugge, a producer whose credits include The Insider, The Pelican Brief, and Bulworth. Based on a true kidnapping incident in Holland, Brugge who co-wrote the script with Justin Haythe, succeeded in wasting an hour and a half of my life.

I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where the drama (and I use this word very loosely) takes place. I even lived in a household not unlike Wayne and Eileen Hayes’ (Redford and Mirren, respectively) where emotions were always tastefully kept in check. (Bad form to raise one’s voice except at a Steeler game.)

But come on. In The Clearing, a wealthy, white, husband and father is kidnapped and the FBI is all over it with a team of two agents? Doesn’t this family have friends or business associates? Are there no local detectives? More attention is paid to the Pepsi product placement at the breakfast table than the terror that surely must bubble to the surface even in the most stoic of families.

Willem Dafoe, as Arnold Mack, a troubled ex-employee, spends most of his time looking at the back of Redford’s head as they trudge through the woods on a day where the sun’s shadows never change except, of course, for an instant downpour. What’s the point of two middle age men chasing each other through the woods if they can’t slip and slide and ultimately get muddy.

For those of you students of continuity in a movie, have a field day with this time line: Mirren’s character goes to the airport to pick-up her daughter, goes shopping to buy a birthday cake for her one year old grandson, confronts her husband’s mistress in the condo where he keeps her, swims with her daughter, takes a bath, talks with her son, naps with her daughter, and, oh, yes, deals with ransom notes and drop-offs on dark, deserted roads. All in one day? Well, yeah, if we’re to believe the cut aways to Redford and Defoe trudging through the woods sharing a ham sandwich.

Maybe Brugge was trying for artsy fartsy. Who knows? Who cares? I think all artists should raise the bar when possible. Aiming high I commend but don’t insult our intelligence and don’t waste time anymore – the actors’ or mine.

Rebecca Redshaw is the Arts& Entertainment Critic for www.NotesFromHollywood.com. She can be reached at r2redshaw@hotmail.com.