When you explore the
movie "The Mothman Prophecies", you have to
recognize a couple of critical issues. While
the movies says it is based upon true events, it is
more the spirit of true events, not the facts of
those events. In fact, most of the facts are
off, but it really isn't so important.
However, while the accuracy of the story is way off,
the substance of the story, namely the Mothmen,
introduces the audience to a profoundly disturbing
reality: that these creatures are amongst us.
It is this last point that
affects us most through the course of this
extraordinary well made movie. Mothmen are
amongst us!
Based
on real life tragic events in Point Pleasant in the
1960's, which became the subject of John Keel's book
of the same name, 'The Mothman Prophecies' mixes
fact and fiction to create a superior supernatural
thriller which takes an eerie, almost hypnotic look
at the big questions hovering around the people of
Point Pleasant, West Viriginia's lives.
Directed by Mark
Pellington, starring Richard Gere, Laura Linney,
Will Patton, Alan Bates, Deborah Messing.
John Klein (Gere) is a successful reporter who
patrols the political beat in Washington DC.
After living in the city for many years, he and
his wife Mary (Messing) feel the time is right
for a move out to fresher air. They view a
Georgetown house one night and, deciding it's
their dream home, begin the trip back to the
city. As Mary drives and Klein jokes in the
passenger seat, a shape appears in front of the
windscreen, forcing her to swerve and hit a
tree. Klein is uninjured but the unconscious
Mary is rushed to hospital. As the doctors treat
her, they discover that she has a rare brain
condition. Despite chemotherapy, she passes away
with Klein haunted by her sickbed words "You
didn't see it did you?"
The question gathers greater significance when,
removing Mary's affects from the hospital, Klein
finds a sketchpad of haunting images. Still
buried in his grief two years later, Klein sets
out one night to travel to West Virginia for an
interview the following day. His car breaks down
and he seeks help in a nearby house where he is
greeted by a man with a shotgun who claims that
the journalist has visited his house for the
past two nights. And when the police arrive
Klein's sense of unease only grows: he's not in
Richmond, Virginia - he's in Point Pleasant,
West Virginia, over 400 miles from his
destination.
Director Mark Pellington's debut, 'Arlington
Road' was a decent but overlooked conspiracy
thriller which housed terrorism in suburbia and
'Mothman' pulls off a similar feat, giving
generic smalltown USA an atmosphere of simmering
menace and danger. It's superbly shot, with
bloody reds and icy winter blues combing with a
trance soundtrack and out-there sound effects to
conjure up the feeling that there'll be no happy
ending or even redemption for John Klein. "Do
you remember the last time you were happy?" asks
a character at one point. Your answer will be
the minute before you sat down in your seat.
While Gere has more
than his share of detractors, it's safe to say
that this is the best thing he's done in years.
His dead-eyed, hurt expression lends itself
perfectly to the story of a reporter who finds
himself becoming the story when he decides to
stay in Point Pleasant and unravel the mystery,
helped in his quest by local cop Connie Parker (Linney).
And while most men would say they'd gladly hang
around in a one-diner town if Linney was dressed
up in a cop's uniform, Pellington resists
playing up the romantic elements, a move which
just re-enforces the dislocation that the
characters feel.
At 113 minutes,
'The Mothman Prophecies' could have benefited
from an extra half-hour, given that the scares
are so good and the relationship between Gere
and Alan Bates as a disturbed supernatural
expert is poor and underdeveloped. But while
some may argue that the ending is a little too
spectacular for the film's low-key feel, the
fact that the denouement really did occur in
Point Pleasant just makes you all the more
uneasy when you leave the cinema.
An unexpected treat
and one destined to enjoy a late night video
audience for many years to come.
