WHAT'S NEW?
SITE OF THE WEEK
The web site is long gone. The movie is available on DVD for as little as a dollar
on eBay. But in Seacoast, New Hampshire, the Weight of Water movie still looms
large. We've kept this review online in our archives for those who missed the
web site.
VISIT our SMUTTYNOSE MURDER section
Let’s be clear. This is not a review of the film “Weight of Water” made from
the Anita Shreve bestseller. The film is nowhere to be seen in these parts, a
fact that is driving Isles of Shoals fans nuts. The story is based, as everyone
around here knows, on the double homicide on SmuttynoseIslandin 1873 . It was
shot four years ago, in Canada, and not at the nearby Isles of Shoals. It premiered
at the Toronto film festival two years ago, got a few bad reviews, and sank like
an anchor. A friend of mine rented it on video in Greece last year, but the movie
only attained release in “select cities” in the USA earlier this month.
Limited release sounds cool, like a “limited edition”. But essentially this film,
for good or ill, is being dumped. I bet it will do well on video – thanks to the
star presence of Sean Penn and a little trick Elizabeth Hurley performs on her
naked body with an ice cube. But this is local history and I wanted to see the
darned thing on the silver screen. Looks like that will never happen.
Too bad. I was really looking forward to this – and looking, and looking. I’m
far from the only Smuttynose Murder fanatic in these parts. But I do have the
giant web site devoted to telling the true story behind the fictionalized version.
(www.weight-of-water.com). I spend one week each summer on Smuttynose Island where there are only two
houses and no electricity, and it’s hard not to think about the murders. In fact,
one of the first times I met my wife Maryellen, she was holding the authentic
ax used in the Smuttynose homicide. Now tell me that’s not a weird connection.
THE WEB SITE MAKERS
The “Weight of Water” web site, taken on its own, is attractive and stylish.
The film is being promoted as an “erotic thriller”, a phrase that doesn’t jive,
for me, with the fact that it is largely about an ax murder. But the Hollywood
style graphics show none of that. The whole thing is done up in burning amber
tones with brown and black and white highlights. We see Ms. Hurley in a bikini
and Mr. Penn looking hunky. There are tiny images of a yacht, a half naked woman
and a couple making out. No Smuttynose.
This is the second web site for the film. The first was up for two years while
the film was in limbo, played spooky music and showed a ghostly image floating
in water. When you clicked on it – the Hollywood site took you to my web page.
I’m not kidding. That’s all there was. And I didn’t get paid a penny. Back then
the promoters were trying the history angle. Based on the critical reviews out
this week , they should have stayed with history. The film is consistently getting
two and half stars out of five.
I assume the site was created by the distributor Lion Gate Films. No on seems
to be available there for comment. Just two weeks into its limited release, “Weight
of Water” isn’t even listed among the company’s most recent films. Even anchors
don’t sink that fast. The movie is being propelled into the sediment at the floor
of the ocean with a bullet.
Proactive viewers who want to know where “Weight of Water” is showing may fill
out a detailed form and email a request. I did that two weeks ago and never got
a reply. It’s as if the distributor just wants the whole thing to go away.
Readers who ENTER the site get an initial treat. The Flash animation is extremely
catchy. Sean Penn winks. A woman’s eyes open in horror. A wave tosses over the
yacht. Clicking Sean produces profiles of the actors, including Ciaran Hinds,
who plays murderer Louis Wagner, the man who was hanged for the actual crimes.
Sarah Poley plays Maren Hontvet, the woman who survived the attack, and her portrayal
alone has gotten critical raves.
The film trailer, like the web site, promises great things to come. Here we see
in a nutshell how novelist Anita Shreve wove together the contemporary story of
fictional people visiting the island with the historical murder tale. It’s a very
good trailer. I watched it over and over on a full screen with rich, booming stereo
sound. Looked like a good flick to me.
The other buttons are a disappointment. We get minimal bios on director Kathryn
Bigelow, author Anita Shreve, the costume designer, soundtrack composer and other
supporting people. There’s a one-page story summary that’s hardly worth the click.
And there’s a contest too, sponsored by Time Warner. I entered to win a “Weight
of Water” movie poster and a copy of the book. At the bottom of the page is a
button for more information. I clicked and ended up on my web site.
THE UP SHOT
I read a couple dozen reviews of the film, and they make one point clear. The
original murder story, critics say, is compelling. It is clearly the best half
of the divided tale. What doesn’t work, critics unanimously agree, is the way
the film careens back and forth between the 19th and 21st centuries. The moody
metaphors of the novel become a murky morass on film.
But I say – who cares? Whether the film succeeds artistically or cinematically
isn’t the point for the few of us who know the story and the island by heart.
I want to see Maren and Louis come alive. I want to hear them speak in thick
Norweigian accents, sitting around in their claustrophobic wooden duplex on the
barren rocky shoals. From the glimpses visible in the trailer, the reconstructed
Smuttynose Island looks pretty good. A friend of mine walked director Kathryn
Bigelow around the actual island while the filmmaker was scouting locations. The
Nova Scotia knock-off looks pretty convincing. In the film, the Hontvet house
still stands, although the original burned a few years after the murder. That’s
poetic license.
I want to see how Ulrich Thompson plays John Hontvet. After the murders, history
tells us, his wife Maren returned to orway while he stayed in Portsmouth. Evan,
played by Anders W. Berthelsen Returned to Norway too after the murder of his
wife. And then there are the murder victims, Karen and Anethe, played by Katrin
Cartlidge and Vinessa Shaw. It is their blood that the facts, the legends, the
fiction and film all revolve around. Murdered then exploited, when all this hubbub
is over, they still lie buried in South Cemetery. Their story, bent by art and
trampled by critics, is as compelling and as sad as ever
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