Monika’s Pensieve

{FILM DIARY}

Dark Harbor (USA, 1998)

Seen: Tuesday, 3rd February 2009 (DVD, repeat viewing)
Runtime: 79′
Director: Adam Coleman Howard
Cast: Alan Rickman, Polly Walker, Norman Reedus
Production House: Hart-Sharp Entertainment, Killer Films
Plot: (from imdb)

A bickering couple (Alan Rickman and Polly Walker) drive fast through a downpour to catch the last ferry to their island retreat. In a flash, they recognize a crumpled body laying at the side of the road after much argument they stop, only to find a young boy (Norman Reedus) battered and bruised. An offer of summoning the police firmly rejected, the two help the boy as best they can although it certainly means missing the ferry…and so starts this thriller: a tale of twisted sexual attraction and ulterior motives.

Trailer
See it here (the film is no where near as violent as the trailer suggests btw :]).

Impressions In Short
It’s an artsy, but rather run of the mill kind of film (i.e. fine, but nothing special).

More About the Film
I guess the reason I originally wanted to see the film (don’t remember when I first saw it - must have been a year or so ago) was Alan Rickman and it’s a fairly nice film to see for him.
However, he totally buggers the American accent IMO :] He’s kind of slipping in and out of it all the time and he never seems to get it spot on (I remember being really curious about that - cause I never could imagine him with an American accent, well I still can’t ;)). Mind you - from what I could hear Polly Walker wasn’t even attempting one, but I actually preferred that. Their nationality and where they were wasn’t particularly important to the plot and atmosphere, so IMO in this case it was better not to do the accent than to bugger it.
Of course the reason why most Alan Rickman fans try to get their hands on this is because he’s naked in it ;) I still completely fail to understand why he’s naked in that scene though lol Not that this is the sort of film where one needs to understand all the whys and whats to enjoy it - I think the atmosphere is more important. But I did find the nude scene a little disruptive, for me it broke the flow a bit because of the “eeeeek! he’s naked!” effect. Similar problem as I had with the nude scene in 33 sceny z życia actually (well maybe not quite as bad).
Surprisingly enough, even though I’m a total pervert, the nudity was not what compelled me to watch this film ;) I think that most of the time I get a bigger kick out of hearing that somebody did a nude scene than out of seeing it, which is maybe a bit weird but whatever ;) I had other perverted reasons that compelled me to see Dark Harbor, which I dare not reveal because it’s a major plot spoiler (and I actually wish I hadn’t known beforehand).
It’s a pleasant film with a lot of nice (and wet) landscapes and the acting has a certain level of intensity to it :)

Recommended?
Possibly… I don’t particularly feel like encouraging anybody to see it, but neither do I want to dissuade anybody ;)