Dark City, 1998
Dark
City is a haunting, surreal, and stunning cinematic achievement
from Alex Proyas: an amalgam of German expressionism, science fiction
and film noir. John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) awakens at midnight in
a bathtub, paranoid and amnesiac, with a primitive instrument on the
floor, a bloody knife on the table, and a woman's corpse behind the
bed. He receives a telephone call from Dr. Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland),
who warns him to leave immediately, as pallid, gaunt Strangers
close in on him. Clues to his identity eventually lead him to his
estranged wife, Emma (Jennifer Connelly), who explains the reason
behind their fractured relationship. Earlier, she attempts to file
a missing persons report on her husband and is redirected to Inspector
Bumstead (William Hurt) who suspects Murdoch of being a serial killer.
Note the similar "scripted" explanation she provides to
Bumstead and Murdoch, as if methodically reciting a logical consequence
to Murdoch's inexplicable behavior. Recalling fragmented memories
of his childhood home, he attempts to return to the elusive Shell
Beach, in search of his past, and uncovers the nature of the Strangers'
experiments.
Proyas'
synthesis of film genres and directorial styles results in a film
that is remarkably adept and original, despite its derivation from
established, often insipidly imitated archetypes. The infusion of
retro elements into a futuristic setting is characteristic of such
cinematic visionaries as Fritz Lang, Stanley Kubrick, Jean-Luc
Godard and Ridley Scott. The gaunt, lanky Strangers are
seeming reincarnations of Orlok in F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu
or Cesare in Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of
Dr. Caligari, having literally risen from the dead. The mythical
Shell Beach is a quintessential Hitchcockian McGuffin, a tangential
distraction whose pursuit leads to the ultimate truth. Inevitably,
it is the humanity of the film that elevates it from the ranks of
the hollow, big budget, frenetic sci-fi potboilers that have often
plagued the genre. Dark City is, after
all, a universal film about the search for identity, connection, and
the soul - exquisitely veiled in the context of a mesmerizing and
painstakingly realized netherworld - a truly ambitious experiment.
© Acquarello
1999. All rights reserved.
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