When we think about Vincenzo Natali, we think about Cube. When we think about Cube we expect that Vincenzo would be the perfect one to direct and adapt In The Tall Grass coz the feeling that the characters are trapped forever in a loop is the same. So, the deja vu is pretty clear and obvious.
Vincenzo would have been still the perfect one, but the problem about this production is that it probably takes the metaphors not too seriouly to a point that audience never gets the references because, like the characters, they get trapped in a loop of trying to understand things and solve mysteries that are pretty unimportant at first.
For those who are already familiar to Stephen King's writing will know that religion, faith, mental and physical violence, family concepts and social issues regarding those references are the base of most of his creative process, bringing them to life as disturbing fantasy and horrifying icons.
The church is there to represent heaven, the field of tall grass the purgatory, and the characters the sinners that get far away from their faith as deeper they dive in the grass, while they must discover by themselves what could finally bring them to a spiritual freedom. That's the basics, and the nuances lies among those major metaphors.
The problem is that the movie never creates an honest dialog with the audience to make references clear. It tries hard to make it a tortuous gore flick instead. Vicenzo is too worried to impress the audience with horror elements instead of creating a relevant journey to a self redeeming conscious.
The screenplay gets lost in itself like the characters in the grass. The icons, the metaphors and allegories are there all the time, but we never feel them and neither get connected to them.
That's a shame because 1922, also based on a King's novel and also filled with the same elements, does it amazingly well. The director's intentions were good, but he loses the connection when he forgets that Stephen King is much more subtle and delicate constructing an entire ecosystem on his writing than Vincenzo does on the screen. And the most important thing, King always create a dialog with his readers.
Vincenzo would have been still the perfect one, but the problem about this production is that it probably takes the metaphors not too seriouly to a point that audience never gets the references because, like the characters, they get trapped in a loop of trying to understand things and solve mysteries that are pretty unimportant at first.
For those who are already familiar to Stephen King's writing will know that religion, faith, mental and physical violence, family concepts and social issues regarding those references are the base of most of his creative process, bringing them to life as disturbing fantasy and horrifying icons.
The church is there to represent heaven, the field of tall grass the purgatory, and the characters the sinners that get far away from their faith as deeper they dive in the grass, while they must discover by themselves what could finally bring them to a spiritual freedom. That's the basics, and the nuances lies among those major metaphors.
The problem is that the movie never creates an honest dialog with the audience to make references clear. It tries hard to make it a tortuous gore flick instead. Vicenzo is too worried to impress the audience with horror elements instead of creating a relevant journey to a self redeeming conscious.
The screenplay gets lost in itself like the characters in the grass. The icons, the metaphors and allegories are there all the time, but we never feel them and neither get connected to them.
That's a shame because 1922, also based on a King's novel and also filled with the same elements, does it amazingly well. The director's intentions were good, but he loses the connection when he forgets that Stephen King is much more subtle and delicate constructing an entire ecosystem on his writing than Vincenzo does on the screen. And the most important thing, King always create a dialog with his readers.