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Panic Room

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Jasonvb
Apr 05 2002
10:30 am

Did anyone else see Fincher’s PANIC ROOM?

It’s a suspenseful tale about Jodie Foster’s tank top.

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triciadk
Apr 06 2002
08:12 pm

just got home from watching it about an hour ago.

as my sister said as we came out of the movie “that one bad guy was nice”. yup. he sure was. i think that’s all i have to say about it. oh, and of course, jodie’s tank top was nice, too.

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danrueck
Apr 07 2002
09:23 pm

I got a free pass but by the time I got there only the front row was available. I went to see Ice Age instead since I was already in the theatre. But I didn’t know I could have seen the Jodi’s tank top up that close… Dang.

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Jasonvb
Apr 08 2002
12:46 pm

Actually, I thought it was quite a good movie. I really didn’t like Dwight Yokam (sp?)‘s character. He’s a better actor than musician I think.

The suspense was really handled well. Lots of breath holding and escapist fun!

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DvdSchp
Apr 09 2002
10:47 am

ok, so does anyone want to crack this sucker open and state the obvious? I guess I will. Although I don’t have it all worked out. Anywho….
This movie was about space and sex. The atmosphere and visual style gave me some feelings of “Touch of Evil,” which is also about space and sex, among other things. The violation of personal space, the necessity to keep people out and away from you, men want what’s inside, coming in the middle of the night, all these things resonate with men wanting and women defending. What are women to do when they don’t have husbands to protect them from other men? What happens when the husbands are ineffectual and weak like Jodie Foster’s husband was? There’s a lot of female issues hidden behind what looks like a very plot driven picture.
Another movie this reminded me of was the original Alien (David Fincher directed Alien3, by the way), which seems to me to be a more direct story about the violation of a very phallic creature in very femine structures like tunnels and rooms. Panic Room doesn’t seem quite as pat in that way. I’m not sure what to make of the role of the androgenous child, or the benevolence of Forest Whitiker.
Ok, I just thought of this. Let’s just say that since Raoul and Burham finally do get into the panic room, through deception and threats, that perhaps this means that sex is always a battle ground, almost political warfare. These three intruders seem to embody different reasons and methods by which to accomplish their final goal, which is entry/sex. Junior, the drug addled (there’s a Viagra joke with him, I think), implusive stupid one just wants the “payoff,” and he doesn’t want to go through the lawful procedures to get what he wants. Raoul, the masked one (like a rapist perhaps) seems to do it because he enjoys domination and pain. Forest Whitiker is doing it for a reason, for his kids, to create a better life, and wants to do it without hurting anyone. He’s ulimately the one who stays around afterward to commit to his “male duties” which is protection of the family, and, of course, he sacrifices everything for doing the right thing.
Well, I don’t know if that works or not. Jodie Foster is finally left on a park bench, holding her child as the space around her expands. You could take this several different ways, I suppose.
I should see it again. Any thoughts?

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laurencer
Apr 09 2002
12:23 pm

well i guess i can check that movie off of my list of things to see now that it won’t have the suspense factor going for it anymore (if i didn’t hate those smily things so much, i would put one here so that you wouldn’t be offended by that statement). although i might still be interested in seeing it just to see if your analysis makes sense.

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joelspace
Apr 09 2002
03:03 pm

That was quite interesting Dave. I was struck by a lot of gender themes as well.

Panic room seemed to bring the thriller movie into a different feel. Forest Whitaker as the criminal. Interesting casting choice. Rather than the typical gunslinging hyperhumans, these vilains were quite rediculous.

I liked the way the camera was free to run around the house too.
And how the score was free to forshadow and accent whatever it wanted.
The filmers didn’t seem interested in realism so much as movement and style.

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DvdSchp
Apr 10 2002
10:01 am

Good old Joel. Always able to speak more about the texture of the movie. Keep talking; I want to hear more.
Are there any females out there? Perhaps I’m talking about issues I don’t understand as a male. Does this make sense to any of you dear ladies?
I’m still stuck on the boyish girl in this movie. Honestly, if they hadn’t mentioned that she was a girl, I would be now referring to her as “him.” That casting choice, costume, and haircut has to be important some how.
I also want to extend my praises for Mr. Fincher for using his rather dynamic visual style for a purpose rather than for the sake of “cool,” which it seems many lesser filmmakers have done in the wake of Marin Scorcese. Example: there’s a shot early in the movie of the camera pulling away from a sleepy Jodie Foster, down the stairs, thru the kitchen, and right into the keyhole just as one of the intruders inserts his key. The key turns and the camera quickly zooms right back out to a wide shot of the guys coming in. That’s a fantastic shot that’s laden with visual motifs in the movie, connecting Jodie Foster with entry, the expance of the house vs. clausterphobia, drilling, etc. Great stuff.
The more I think about it, the more I like this movie. In my eyes, he’s redeeming himself for Fight Club, which was a bit of a mess. Panic Room is pretty solid.
By the way, if you think about the sex analogy, there’s a lot of great double entandra(sp?). If you like that kind of thing…
and I do.

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joelspace
Apr 10 2002
05:11 pm

Yah. I loved that shot your talking about when the guys are first breaking in. A very bold choice. Apparantly Fincher and company used an auto-cad type program to map out the camera movements virtually before they started making the movie.

For some reason I fealt unsatisfied by the experience though. I think perhaps it was that the inovative camera work wasn’t connected enough to the emotional substance of the film. Could also be that I don’t yet understand the new language he’s using.

I wonder what y’all think of the climax? Why did they keep showing Jodie Fosters face when Forest was deciding whether or not to jump the fence.

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triciadk
Apr 10 2002
05:40 pm

so, dave wants to hear it from a woman. well, i’m tricia, and that’ll have to do. i, as tricia, didn’t like the movie all that much. being that i wasn’t a huge fan of lord of the rings, either, that may not mean much to anyone. let me explain (briefly) why before someone jumps my ars. while i can TOTALLY appreciate the visual aspects of both films (hooray for that incredible camera shot you’ve spoken of…it really was quite rad), i, tricia (i’m making sure i don’t speak for any female but mysefl), am not a fan of a lot of suspense or action (blur, sword, blur, yelling, blur, gun, blur, fire, bl…you get the idea) especially predictable suspense. so maybe it’s just the genre that i can’t stand, not the actual films. i’ve been known to contradict myself before. at any rate, i totally believe in what you’ve said so far about the sexual analysis. being that i was more intent on not liking the movie, or that i’m far from an expert, i didn’t read into all of that nearly as much/well as you did. but it totally makes sense. did i answer anything, or did i ramble, as i’m prone to do at times?…

at any rate, i’m still mulling over the asexual child, as well as the near-final scene of jodie foster face as forest was contemplating jumping…wow, glad i could offer so much to this conversation. ha ha. (i almost made a smiley face, rob, but held back for your sake)

i’m not proofreading this.

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Jasonvb
Apr 12 2002
12:51 pm

Nice thoughts, all. Anyone else think Fincher wanted to end the film after the final close up of Jodie Foster, rather than cutting to the boring park scene? I guess it may have been needed for resolution, but I wouldn’t have tacked it on.

And was Forest contemplating jumping? I wasn’t paying attention, maybe…