这是一部颇为神奇的片子。
我不能说看懂了，但是却挺喜欢；不过我并不普遍推荐它，因为这是一个非主流的，比较＂现代艺术＂，比较主观的片子。
我一般也不推崇太主观太自我中心的作品（不过尽量不把它们一棍子打死），不过这一部有它的特色，而且，我觉得，可爱。
说它神奇，一方面是因为，虽然影片本身是有情节(narrative drive）的－－甚至情节相当的不新鲜－－但是很多的段落给人无情节的印象。
故事讲的是，once upon a time，南方的沼泽和树林里住着一个爸爸和两个儿子，大儿子十五六，小儿子十岁，过着与世隔绝的生活。有一天，一个陌生人忽然出现在他们家门口，原来是爸爸的亲兄弟，刚从监狱里出来，笑嘻嘻的，爸爸的眼光里是复杂的反应。原来，爸爸的爸爸不知从哪儿搞来一袋金币，死后留给兄弟俩。但弟弟不知怎么地进了监狱，他的女朋友变成了哥哥的老婆。现在弟弟出了狱，来讨还属于他的那一份人生。跟爸爸叔叔这一对形成对比的，是下一代的一对兄弟，哥哥虽然正在经历躁动不安的青春期，对体弱的弟弟却爱护有加。
（今天早上起来回想了一下，不，Undertow不能算＂现代艺术＂类型的作品，它有情节有人物甚至有明显的story arc，其实已经很audience-friendly了。）
前一半是家庭抓马，两个大人两个孩子困在孤零零的家里互相的冲突；后一半全完全转了个方向，把视线推向外面的世界，变成了＂在路上＂的类型。（我不能泄露更多的情节了。）
看着看着，我的坏习惯又上来了，脑子开始转动分析：这段看似幼稚的情节有什么深意和象征性？不寻常之处在于，我立刻阻止了自己：别，别分析，别深究，停止思想。象浮在河上的一根木头，我不由自主地漂啊漂，让那些缓慢的画面把我带到一个悬浮的世界，潮湿闷热的乡下和模糊的脸，所有的思想都停滞了，只剩下一团原始的直觉互相用文字之外的方式彼此交流。
(I am truly sorry. I cannot do this in Chinese.)
The movie is poetic, but poetic in a nonverbal way, but I don't mean it is musical -- it really is POETIC, only not verbal (verbal means having to do with words).
What is it all about? I came up with plenty of theories and themes, but those were all way after I finished watching the movie. But when I was watching it, it was nothing but the mood.
The director, David Gordon Green, made a splash when his first feature film "George Washington" (no, it's not about General George Washington, the first President of United States) was rejected by the Sundance Film Festival, but was highly praised at the Berlin Festival. And he was only 25 then. I have read somewhere that Green is a "polarizing" figure in current cinema, or a Terrence Mallick-wannabe. Roger Ebert absolutely LOVES him. (Ebert particularly loves this kind of movies about youthful exploration and idleness, such as "Eve's Bayou," which left me scratching my head.) Critics alternately think he is empty and pretentious or sensitive and insightful.
Whatever he is, I can say with certainty that Green is not pretentious. You simply cannot fake the beauty and the mood in his lense.
This movie is, in essence, a fairy tale. No, no, it's not like Pan's Labyrinth. There are no monsters and forest creatures. Everything is vaguely contemporary and almost ordinary. But there are a pot of gold (actually a bag of gold coins), a journey into the wood and beyond, a big bad wolf chasing after children, and violent struggles. More important, there are archtypes of characters and story elements that we instantly recognize from all the fairy tales we have read in childhood. The reckless boy, the family curse, the absent mother, the sibling rivalry, the dangerous and mysterious landscape, the mark of Cain on the forehead of both brothers...
It must be viewed and considered as a magical piece. (Strangely enough, I just found out that the cable station TNT showed this movie on the same day as I watched the DVD.) The audience must allow themselves to enter the land of unreal to "get into" Undertow.
Southern Gothic is the American version of mythology, with some commonality with myths from more ancient societies (a la Joseph Campbell) and its distinct flavor. In the rich green woods and steamy, sweltering swamps, the same old story is retold and retold -- a boy's coming of age in a hostile world, family feud and sibling rivalry.
All four actors gave exceptional performance, including the charming but dangerous uncle played by Josh Lucas (even a handsome dud might have a belly under the shirt
-- see "The Making of" on the DVD). But my oh my how impressive is Jamie Bell who anchors the entire movie, so young and so natural. I was shocked to hear his English accent in "The Making Of" segment, because his southern accent and physical performance are so ... authentic. Moreover, I was SOOOO dumb -- Because I didn't watch Billy Elliott, I did not know Bell played Billy Elliott until after I saw Undertow!Besides being a modern fairy tale, I also had the distinct feeling that it is a male movie, as pure as the heroic mythology of Clint Eastwood, but less obvious and less ... dry. It is a boy's adventure story in a world completely consisted of male figures. There are many issues and themes floating underneath the surface, and they all have to do with the deepest male anxiety -- the competition and conflicted passions between brothers, between fathers and sons ...
You laugh, but to a certain extent, I do think men's stories do not need women in its deepest meanings and agonies, if you remove the element of sex. Do women's stories need men in their heart? Uh... I don't know. Possibly no, because many women's stories may feature male characters, but they are not real -- they are merely an idealized female fantasy figure of men. This movie is a boy's story -- I had a hunch that this is as close I'll ever get to the male psyche.
The cinematography is done with exiquisite tenderness and subtlety by Tim Orr (who also shot George Washington) -- really the best I've seen in a long time. It gives me the feeling of sitting on the porch on a Sunday afternoon looking at empty backstreets and listening to birds' chirping; no particular thoughts came to mind.