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DVD Review: ‘The Impossible’ directed by Juan Antonio Bayona

By on May 20, 2013

film iconDan Walker on Film

 

 

 

 

Director:  Juan Antonio Bayona (The Orphanage)

Writers:  Sergio G. Sánchez, María Belón

Cast:   Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive, 21 Grams, I Heart Huckabees)

Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting, Moulin Rouge, Big Fish)

Tom Holland  (His first acting role.  Before this movie, he did a voice for the UK version of “The Secret World of Arrietty”, which is a Miyazaki movie directed by someone other than Miyzaki, who wrote the screenplay and executive produced.)

Running Time: 114 minutes

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“The Impossible” is one of those movies someone had to point out before I noticed it.  The “someone” in this case was the Academy Award nominations.  Naomi Watts was nominated for Best Actress, but the movie belongs to Tom Holland and – even more — the special effects and visual effects guys.  Not sure what the difference is between the two “effects” designations.*

LoII included the writers in the credits to emphasize this was a Spanish-made movie about a British family (whose parents are played by actors from Scotland and Australia, although the family the story is based on is Spanish) set in Thailand during the devastating 2004 tsunami.  To add to the number of countries I reference, the family lives in Japan because of the husband’s job.  The opening lines of the film don’t say it’s based on a true story; they say it IS a true story.  Translation:  brace yourself.

Maria and Henry (Australian Watts and Scot Ewan McGregor) fly to Thailand for a vacation with their three sons at a recently-opened beach resort hotel, which is where they are when the tsunami (something cool about that word) hits.  Even the family’s flight banter is confrontational and stressful to witness so you know not to expect any laughs.

The reactions as the tsunami is about to hit are a study in human emotion.  Henry, from a distance, repeatedly calls out to the oldest son, Lucas (Holland), who dives into a hotel pool.  Maria cradles paperwork close to her like it was an infant (she couldn’t hold her kids at that moment), ducking her head in anticipation and kneeling fetally by a poolside patio glass wall.  For the next time, always avoid being near glass that’s about to be shattered.  As you watch,  you know what they’re doing can’t possibly help, but you have to do SOMETHING during an event like that.  Nothing in life prepares you for such a moment.  It barely prepares you to watch the reenactment of one, especially when it’s done so well.

catastropheIn the resulting and powerful flood, Maria and Lucas thankfully find each other but none of their other family members so they — and we — assume the worst in order to focus on the survival of the two.  With the help of God-sent rescuers, they make their way to a hospital in the hopes that Maria – badly injured and scarred – can get medical attention.   Despite Maria’s — and his own — plight and realizing he can’t be of any help hovering over his bedridden mother, Lucas focuses on reuniting other families, which is difficult since survivors are spread out for miles, concentrated in makeshift medical centers and lost-and-founds.  Lucas spends most of the movie searching, and Maria spends most of it in bed in worse health and less coherent each time you see her.  (I was never quite sure what her main malady was.  She has a number of them vying for that title.)  And you thought her role in “21 Grams” was a downward spiral.  There’s a reason I included “I Heart Huckabees” in her credits and not another serious role.**

DistressWhile I say it’s Holland’s movie, I understand why Watts was given the Oscar nomination.  Toward the end of the movie and in its high point, (the ubiquitous) they replay the moment and immediate aftermath of the tsunami’s impact and you see every second of how Maria – underwater the entire time – gets each of her injuries and it is absolutely riveting.  The scene goes on for an agonizingly long time.  Just merciless.  And, because it’s all under water, claustrophobic.  You just want it to end but you can’t turn away.  It’s compelling and somehow educational.  Once you throw in the physics of that much powerfully churning, flowing water, anything can happen.   If that really is Watts in those scenes – and it sure looked like it – she takes a beating like none I remember seeing on film.  My aversion to beach resorts was re-affirmed watching that part of the movie.  Actually, the whole movie did that.

HollandHolland’s precocious performance reminded me of Christian Bale in “Empire of the Sun” except I didn’t want the child character to die this time.  In another comparison, Bale’s character in “Empire” was as unlikeable as the kid in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”.  I think I made my point.  Granted, the way they shot Holland – lots of Spielbergian close-ups – didn’t hurt but he still did a great job and was believable throughout the movie, from antagonistic older brother to caring good Samaritan to nurturing, stepping-up-because-dad-is-gone son, a role he doesn’t readily relinquish even when he can.

I can understand why people – even if they knew about it – would be averse to watching this movie.  It’s very one-note and that note is very dramatic — to an almost-brutal extent — and very emotional.  (I guess that would make it two-note.)  In that regard, it reminded me of “Babel” and “Amores Perros”, both directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, who also directed “21 Grams.”  Too serious, that guy.  If I ever went to a party and saw him and Christopher Nolan there, I’d leave.

familyAdding to the realism of the movie – or at least a lesson on what happens after such devastation – the family members come across other people who can’t find their families.  You see all the frustration, confusion, disorientation and the resulting conflicts that can come about when groups of people are all looking for their family members and not knowing where to start their search— a redefinition of the word “desperate.”  To show it wasn’t all bad, there was also compassion in those interactions.  People at their best when times are at their worst.

The story – and I don’t mean to trivialize what the actual family went through – wasn’t great in itself.  I was two blocks from the San Francisco Ferry Building during the ’89 quake and in Manhattan during Sandy so I got a feeling – but not much more — for some of the shock, disorientation, momentary helplessness and, especially, the need to contact those you’re closest to that comes as a result of such events.

Adding a dramatic score and awesome special effects to my life would be much more interesting and multi-dimensional.

DPW

Cast*In the cast and crew credits on imdb, the number of people listed under Special Effects is 27. It’s 29 for the Visual Effects crew.  I never checked those numbers for “Life of Pi”, which won the Oscar in that category.  In the write-up I did of the Oscars, my first sentence was “The best movie in the category won”.  Thank God I didn’t say anything about the actual quality of the special effects when compared to the other movies.  In retrospect, I can’t believe this movie didn’t even get a nomination in the category, much less win.  It just shows how few people saw it. Had more Academy members seen it, “Life of Pi” may well have won 3 Oscars instead of 4.  “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it,…”  While “Pi”s visuals were more obvious, impressive and pretty, the visuals were so convincing – almost undebatable — in “The Impossible” I kept asking myself “How did they do this?!” and I very, very rarely combine a question mark and an exclamation point.  It wasn’t just the impact of the tsunami that was convincing; the aftermath, in its detail and endlessness, looked very real.  What you saw with “Pi” were the visuals of what was pretty much a fantasy story so the range of what you accepted was wide but “The Impossible” is very authentic.  What a shame such an impressive technical effort went so unnoticed.

huckabees**For the first time since I saw “I Heart Huckabees” in the theatre (and found it to be total anarchy despite an interesting cast), I wanted to watch it again.   I need to see Watts in a light role and want to see a generally light film after writing this review.  Besides, David O’ Russell’s last films, “The Fighter” and “Silver Linings Playbook” were so enjoyable I’m wondering if I didn’t miss something with “Huckabees.”

I feel an obligation to mention the Clint Eastwood-directed similarly tsunami-themed “Hereafter”, which is such a watered-down (NPI) story and production by comparison, I think of it as “Afterthought.”

I’m going to watch 2005’s (usually interesting) Marc Forster movie “Stay”, which has the same two leads.  I figure that experience made them want to work together again in “The Impossible”.  I’m looking forward to seeing good chemistry by two actors I like a lot.

 

MacBecause a big part of me resents the competition and winner/loser mentality it fosters, it bothers me to mention that it doesn’t make sense that Ewan McGregor has never been nominated for an Academy Award.  And I’m not even talking about the “Star Wars” prequels, even though his acting consistently was the best of all the performers.  Everyone else was constricted by their characters, situations and dialogue, which McGregor rose above.  And Hayden Christensen – very good in “Life as a House” — was just awful in the lead.  McGregor did a great young Alec Guinness in those movies.  I guess McGregor’s reward for solid performance after solid performance is getting role after role.

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6 comments on “DVD Review: ‘The Impossible’ directed by Juan Antonio Bayona”

  1. John Necci on said:

    Great analysis and a spot-on review. One part of the movie that gave me chills was when the little orphaned boy is found by his father in the hospital and Tom Holland’s character tells his mother that the boy’s father found him – but then he hesitates. This left me wondering whether it was really his father and that left me unsettled.
    One other tsunami movie comes to mind – Bait.

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  2. DPW on said:

    Thanks, John. I like knowing somebody actually saw that movie. That was the one part I didn’t understand. I wouldn’t have put any energy into not understanding it if they didn’t make a point of Lucas being apprehensive about identifying the man who was playing with — and seemingly reunited with — the boy as his father. As the scene was playing out I thought, “Where’s the ambiguity? The guy’s obviously his father. Get on with the story.” Because of the way the movie dwelled on Lucas’s uncertainty of the man’s relationship with the boy, we became uncertain. Any man that age other than the boy’s father playing with him like that makes the scene disturbing and it lingers for the rest of the movie. And after.

    Thanks for singling out that scene so I could get a response out of my system. It didn’t make sense to comment on it in my write-up because you had to see it to understand it and I didn’t want to get into that much detail.

    A couple of days after I saw “The Impossible”, a buddy went to Thailand for the first time. His second day there a boat ride he planned was canceled because a monsoon capsized all fourteen boats available for that ride. If I go to Thailand, I’m timing my trip carefully. And maybe staying inland (I’m not big on resort beaches, anyway).

    Thanks for suggesting “Bait”, which I imdb’d and see it’s a shark movie. Those movies can be a guilty pleasure for me. I’ve seen “Anaconda” and “Deep Blue Sea” several times and — despite myself — like them and will watch them again. Jon Voight has to laugh at his own performance in “Anaconda”, and I don’t mean that in a sarcastic way. Just seems he had fun with it. For the record, I only saw the first “Jaws” — which I watch at least once every summer — and none of the sequels so I apparently have my limits. It will be even better to watch now that I have a projector and 10-foot screen.

    This may seem demented but I watched “Life of Pi” on it yet again last night. My fourth or fifth viewing since I got the DVD. It occurred to me as I was watching it that, while I enjoyed “Argo”, I have no interest in seeing it again. No layers and pretty straightforward. I saw “Lincoln” two nights ago and loved it — especially the dialogue and ensemble acting — all over again. As time goes on, I think “Argo” will seem like a questionable Best Picture Oscar winner. I’m not even sure much time will need to pass for that to occur to people. If I watch it again and think otherwise, I’ll make it a point to correct myself in print.

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    • John Necci on said:

      During the reporting of the actual Tsunami – I remember hearing of a boy that may have been kidnapped. They might have used that in the movie.
      http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/01/05/sweden.missing/

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  3. pablito on said:

    Great feel for the tone of the film, Dan.

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  4. DPW on said:

    OK, John, you just set a record for the weirdest way to add value to a movie/review/comment/response. Now the scene makes sense in a way I’m sorry I understand and is clearly a reference to this story. That someone would be jackal to such an extent that they would capitalize on a disaster to abduct a child would have never, ever occurred to me.

    Quick, send me a link to a story about the good nature of people or I won’t be able to sleep tonight.

    Oh, here’s one: Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder donated $1 million to relief efforts for the Oklahoma tornado victims, prompting the Thunder organization to match him and the NBA and Players’ Union to combine to do the same. Nike — his sponsor — is donating $1 million in footware and apparel.

    http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/25/kevin-durant-gets-nike-to-join-him-in-donating-over-1-million-to-help-with-oklahoma-tornado-relief/

    I already loved the guy’s Gatorade commercial with Duane Wade. Now I finally have a reason to be interested in the NBA — which I gave up on long ago because it seemed more about egos and salaries than sportsmanship — season the next time around. I just became a fan of the Thunder.

    Reply ↓

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