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n10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
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nDirector: Dan Trachtenberg
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nCast: John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John GallaghernJr.
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n10 Cloverfield Lane is the kind of film that gets madenwithout anybody knowing about it and then suddenly boom; there it is inntheaters, completely taking you by surprise. Suddenly there’s a new filmnproduced by J.J. Abrams that nobody knew a thing about! And it’s supposed to benintense and scary! Suddenly there’s a buzz about the movie. Could it be as goodnas everyone is saying? What is this mystery box that Abrams has suddenly thrownnour way? While Abrams served as a producer for 10 Cloverfield Lane, this filmnwas actually written and directed by a group of newcomers who are slowlynworking their way up to making bigger films. A small budget film like 10nCloverfield Lane which was made with only 15 million dollars, can give upnand coming writers and directors the opportunity to show they can handle a filmnwith special effects while at the same time, showing they can squeeze a good, solid,nconvincing performance from their actors. Case in point, Dan Trachtenberg and DamiennChazelle are part of a new wave of filmmakers that’s popping up. They representnan entirely new generation of writers and directors and we get to see them takentheir first baby steps in the world of filmmaking. I went to the theater tonfind out if 10 Cloverfield Lane was worth all the hype its been getting. Hownwas it?
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nThe premise for this film is extremely simple, a woman whonends up in a car accident, wakes up in a bunker, beneath ground not knowing hownshe got there. Soon she discovers that a man rescued her and he claims there’snbeen some sort of attack. He says that the air outside the bunker isncontaminated by toxic chemicals that will melt your skin off. Problem is thenwoman has no way of knowing if what the man claims is true or not. Is he anpsycho who wants to lock her up and do nasty things to her? Or has there actually be some sort of attack that has contaminated the air?
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n10 Cloverfield Lane strives on intensity, paranoia and thenperformances delivered by the actors involved. In this sense, I say 10nCloverfield Lane succeeds. This isn’t a film that rides on wowing us withncomputer effects or action; instead, it tries to genuinely creep us out withnits situations, the way the characters react and with where your imaginationncan take you. This film effectively plays with what we don’t see. It makes usnimagine the worst. I heard some people disappointed by the film because theynthought it was going to be something else, they were maybe expecting a filmncentering on action and effects. Shows how deluded audiences are, I mean, comenon, not everything has to be a constant barrage of computer effects! How aboutna slow burner that creeps up beneath your skin? How about you get into that? Hownabout you just let a movie be what it is, without letting your expectations getnin the way? Truth is, audiences are so dumbed down by commercial blockbusternfilms that this is all they’ve come to expect from movies. So when something anbit more minimalist comes along, they feel disappointed.
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nPoint I’m trying to make is that 10 Cloverfield Lane isnactually a gripping and intense movie that runs on performances, mainly that ofnJohn Goodman as Howard, the guy who seems to be kind of nuts, but maybe he’s onnto something? The ambiguity with this character is fantastic, really dug thatnabout Goodman’s performance and the way the character was written. Actually, itnbrought to mind another ambiguous ‘maybe he’s good, maybe he’s the devil’ typenof character that John Goodman himself played in the Cohen Brothers Barton Finkn(1991), in fact I’m sure that particular performance is why he was chosen forn10 Cloverfield Lane. The thing about Goodman is that he can play the sweetest characters,nlike Babe Ruth in The Babe (1991) or when he played Dan Conner in Roseanne, butnwhen he goes dark, he can really deliver! On this one, he goes batshit insanenand it’s convincing. I was also glad to see Mary Elizabeth Winstead in a film,nI’ve always thought she’s underused in cinema, and here she is again deliveringnan awesome performance in a strong female lead.
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n10 Cloverfield Lane is not groundbreaking cinema by any standards;nit is not a wholly original film. It plays with a familiar premise, that of angroup of strangers kooked up in a claustrophobic environment while society disintegrates.nThe confined space they are in is a microcosm of society, we are them and theynare us. For similar films watch Night of the Living Dead (1968), The Divide (2011),nCube (1997) or if you want to go further back, The War of the Worlds (1953). Thesenkinds of films milk people’s fears of society breaking down, they explore thenidea that we are our own worst enemies, or the idea that that someday we mightnall blow each other up. Though we don’t live under the intense nuclear paranoianthat people from the 50’s or from the 80’s did, we do have North Koreanthreatening to press the button, so yeah, our collective fears do worknthemselves into this film and juice it for all its worth. In this way, sciencenfiction films are again mirroring reality, as they have always done.
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nRating: 3 out of 5
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nDan Trachtenberg directing his first feature film, 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
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