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Gothika Gothika is, for much of its running time, a taut, compelling thriller dominated by Halle Berry's energetic performance. She plays Dr. Miranda Grey, a psychologist who works with troubled women at a local penitentiary. We first see her trying to reason with a deluded prisoner/patient played by Penelope Cruz, whose rape fantasies are genuinely disturbing. Fortunately, Dr. Grey can take comfort in the strong arms of her husband Dr. Douglas Grey (Charles Dutton) and the admiring glances of co-worker Dr. Pete Graham (Robert Downey Jr.). But when the lights start flickering throughout the prison, we know that trouble can't be far behind. Actually, the trouble doesn't take place inside but outside as Miranda drives home. Swerving her car to miss a girl in the middle of the road, she crashes into a tree. Miranda stumbles out to see what's wrong with the girl, and an extraordinary event occurs (I won't spoil the surprise). The next thing Miranda knows, she wakes up inside one of the penitentiary's cells, under arrest for the brutal murder of her husband. Miranda doesn't remember a thing, but she knows she can't be guilty of murder. The movie's next 45 minutes are surprisingly convincing. Though moments of paranormal activity burst in once in a while, the movie's primary storyline is of Miranda trying to convince Pete of her own sanity. He's not easily convinced, but we're not so sure of his motives. Though Gothika doesn't feel much different than other supernatural thrillers, it does benefit from strong direction and a give-it-all-she's-got portrayal from Halle Berry. Unfortunately, the movie collapses as soon as the idea of a serial killer is introduced, and Berry turns from brilliant psychologist into unbelievably brilliant FBI profiler. I realize that if you don't believe in Satan or the Bush administration's propaganda, than a serial killer is the closest thing to pure evil in contemporary society. But c'mon! For every John Wayne Gacy in real life, there are 50 tormented, tormenting, perverted psychos floating in the minds of Hollywood screenwriters. Can we finally give this narrative thrust a break? What's worse is that the movies don't just feature men with a taste for blood. They're psychopaths with a taste for torturing underage girls while filming their conquests. So besides contemplating the mind of a killer, the audience is subjected to watching fuzzy but not fuzzy enough video clips. When Hitchcock, through a point-of-view shot, put us in the mind of Norman Bates, he was taunting us with our own voyeuristic tendencies. But today's filmmakers are just desperately trying to shock their audiences, and it's a sick, unwholesome affair. Gothika isn't willing to let it go at that, though. It realizes serial killers are old hat, so it actually throws in possession. Not exactly demonic possession, but possession by the spirit of one of the dead girls. Apparently, the dead are walking the earth ready to take over anyone's mind who's foolish enough to get out of her car on a dark, stormy night. Does the Catholic church know about this? This idea of the dead hanging around has exploded since the success of The Sixth Sense. I suspect that some of the idea's currency can be traced to our society's faltering belief in an afterlife. If we don't expect a kind of final judgment, where the scales are weighed and sins are punished, then it becomes more and more incumbent that we find a way to right the wrongs in this life. And what better way than for the dead and the living to hook up and kill the evildoers. No worries about condemning the wrong man and no irritatingly lengthy appeals process. In many ways, Gothika (and films like it) functions as a cathartic, thrilling alternative to our justice and religious systems, neither of which provide the immediate and certain gratification we desire. In Gothika, at least, the gratification is undermined by the sheer lunacy of the situation. When Dr. Grey screamed into a phone, "I'm not deluded, I'm possessed," the screening I was in erupted in howls of laughter. The film's urgent naivete is somewhat admirable, but a little bit of irony would've helped. Still, fans of the genre
will probably not be terribly disappointed. The acting, especially from
Berry and Robert Downey Jr., is strong and relatively convincing. The movie
keeps enough characters around to keep us guessing which one is the killer.
And Mathieu Kassovitz's rigorous direction creates some striking compositions
and tension. Until, that is, the final half hour runs off the rails, but
I'll blame that on producers
J. Robert Parks 11/17/2003
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