March 18, 2004
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"You stole my story," says the stranger, beginning the conflict that would become "Secret Window."
Johnny Depp plays Mort Rainey, a writer who is perfectly content leading a hermit-like life. Then his peaceful life is interrupted when a psycho named Shooter (John Turturro) comes to his door, claiming that Mort has stolen one of his stories. Johnny must discover what the real reason for Shooter’s presence – before it’s too late (sorry, had to throw that in there). From the moment that Shooter knocks on the door until the climax, the suspense runs high. Though it wasn’t as scary as I was expecting, nothing usually lives up to my expectations, at least scary-wise. There were lots of tense moments, though, and I did jump a few times. There’s nothing that would disturb you or give you nightmares, but there’s enough to be entertaining. Johnny Depp turns in yet another convincing, subtle, witty performance, as Mort Rainey. As a writer, he would rather lounge around on the couch, eating Doritos and peanut butter sandwiches, and drinking Mountain Dew (those who know me know what happened when I tried a similar diet). His hair is perfectly messy; I think it is my favorite hair on him. His glasses are large, tortoise-shell rimmed, and really adorable. He has all the features of a little puppy, which just makes you want to protect him. Since we only know what he knows, only see what he sees, only hear what he hears... we are able to connect with him as if we were in the same predicament. |
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John Turturro is very creepy in the role, which he seems to inhabit. I can totally imagine him at him with that same accent, wearing that weird little hat and making prank calls to scare people or something. His accent is a bit much, especially when he says that “I know you, Mr. Rainey,” which comes out more like, “Ah nah yuu.” Sometimes I couldn’t understand him... it was either the accent or the line, but it sounded like he said something about “your feet in Crisco.” Maybe that’s just some Southern phrase that I’m not familiar with.
The story was less believable... I mean, why on Earth would you have an affair with Timothy Hutton if you're married to Johnny Depp? Sure, Mort's a little strange, but that's fixable. I could understand her sneaking off with him for a non-physical relationship: candlelit dinners, serious conversations, beach walks and the like, but rolling around some seedy motel room instead of just going home? I think we can do a little better than that, Maria. There are some very nice shots, especially inside the house, focused on one particular mirror. I’m not sure how they did it, but they used subtle visual effects to their advantage. The opening shot is about a 2 minute long crane shot, which ends up going through the mirror into the reflection, sort of. Very cool. They do it again at the end... it must be a magic mirror or something. |  |
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The shots of the house are beautiful... it is a two-story cabin with a screened in porch, and upstairs is just surrounded with railing instead of walls. And the whole thing is right next to a lake. I can’t really describe it... but it’s very nice. It better not just be a set, because I will track it down and buy it. Yeah, so there’s some bad stuff associated with it and some... earthquake damage, but nothing that can’t be fixed. (Future real estate mogul here.)
“Secret Window” is definitely worth seeing. It’s kind of like the “Sixth Sense,” and you had to go see that so you were in the know, right? You don’t want to spend your whole life having to leave rooms because people want to talk about the ending, do you? Of course not. So, go see it. And if you’ve already seen it, save the money you’d waste on “Starsky & Hutch” and go see “Secret Window” again. |
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Well, I just hope this J.M. Barrie fellow was a cross-dresser. Or at least I hope he had cute hair.
(Note: “J.M. Barrie’s Neverland,” about the author of Peter Pan, is Johnny Depp’s next movie...) DON’T READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE YET. GO OUT AND SEE IT RIGHT NOW. I will admit that I was surprised at the ending (the climax one... not the bit with the straight hair and braces). The whole movie I was suspicious that something was going on... but I had almost no idea that it would turn out this way. I did think a few times, oh, that’s odd that he is always asleep when bad things are happening... But I never really suspected him. And before you get all haughty and think I’m stupid, consider this: the reason that I didn’t suspect him is that I trusted him. He was so convincing in his performance, and I am so eager to believe his every word that I would never think that he was actually lying to me. So, anyone who figured it out before he told you, you must not be a real fan, doubting what Johnny says! And Ebert didn’t get it either, and he and Roeper gave it two thumbs up! | 
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