Undertow
From the stable of David Gordon Green, the man who wrought the disturbingly realistic dramas All The Real Girls and George Washington, comes Undertow, a family drama with a difference.
Starring ‘Billy Elliot’ Jamie Bell (who really nails the southern accent – and that’s literally and figuratively), Dermot Mulroney in a surprising soft-macho role and Josh Lucas as the troublemaker brother of Mulroney’s stalwart widower.
Mulroney’s character John moved his sons, Chris (Bell) and Tim (Devon Allen), to the back woods of Georgia for a better life after the death of their mother. The older boy is causing a ruckus while the younger one is decidedly weird (he’s ordering his library by the way the books smell, for instance). Then Deel (Lucas) shows up with issues from the past – not the least that the dead mum was his girlfriend first. And then there is a small matter of some Mexican gold coins that John and Deel stashed, so the legend goes. Now Deel thinks he should have his half and is ready to tear the little house apart to find them. This is a dark, ominous look at the American south where childhood isn’t as innocent as it seems. This is a film of deceptive depth and disturbance – and the director is still only 29-years-old.
Undertow, UGC Shaftsbury Avenue.