David O'ConnellMIFF 2010: Uninhabited/The Housemaid
July 27th 2010 02:12
Uninhabited
Bill Bennett’s long-awaited latest venture is a bit of a fizzer unfortunately. I’ve long been a fan of this skilled director, responsible for such films as Australian classic Kiss or Kill (1997) and a little-known, much underrated film he made in the States in the early 90’s called Tempted.
Uninhabited is supposedly inspired by real events. It’s a supernatural tale set on a tiny island near the Great Barrier Reef in which a young couple are dropped off for a 10 day getaway by a boatman in the opening scene. They imagine the place to be deserted and entirely their own to laze about and soak up the glorious sunshine.
The first indicator of trouble comes upon waking the next morning as they discover some undersized footprints near their tent. Supposing that a group of teenagers have likewise discovered their idyllic paradise, they set out in an attempt to identify their fellow guests, but to no avail. A series of spooky events follow, including eerie crying in the night and the discovery of footage on their own video camera of themselves sleeping in the night. Pranksters, they keep telling themselves, but after finding a diary written by past inhabitants in an inland cabin they begin to irrationally think otherwise. They decide to leave immediately but that's easier said than done.
Uninhabited’s major downfall is in its casting. The two leads are bland and frankly mediocre performers at best, especially debutant Henry James as Harry (with a name like that perhaps he should think about migrating to another facet of filmmaking to see if he has any better luck). Another debutant, Geraldine Hakewill, fares a little better as his partner but not by much.
It’s been eight long years since Bennett’s last film, amiable comedy The Nugget, which starred Eric Bana. Unfortunately the wait hasn’t been worth it even though from a technical viewpoint the film is competently made. Anonymity in casting can be a great thing but I can’t help but wonder how much better this film might have been represented with two really fine, experienced actors in the leads. There are a couple of well-orchestrated chills in Uninhabited but this will struggle to find an audience and is probably headed straight to DVD which is sad because Bennett is a talented guy.
The Housemaid
Im Sang-soo’s latest is a rather loose remake of a 1960 film long considered a Korean cult classic. This updating of the story is an elegant, well-crafted over-the-top psycho-drama/black-comedy hybrid. It’s efficient in every conceivable way: extremely well acted by a photogenic cast, and shot in the immaculate, opulent surrounds of a wealthy family’s house where a successful businessman and his wife – heavily pregnant with twins – live with their young daughter and cynical old head of staff (the superb Yun Yeo-jung).
Into their midst is recruited a beautiful new housemaid, Eun-yi (Jeon Do-yeon) who performs her duties with admirable competency despite the obvious contempt her employers have for her and people of her social standing. Complications ensue when the husband becomes attracted to Eun-yi; though surreptitiously avoiding the wife’s suspicions at first, you know things will quickly go pear-shaped when she uncovers their affair and its further ramifications.
The Housemaid has some valid though over-stressed points to make about the social divisions in Korean society but at the end of the day Im’s film is fairly lightweight stuff. It’s very slickly made however and so heavily laden with hilarious moments of deliciously dark humour that you can’t help loving it.
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