Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Man With No Name, 30 Jun 2006
James Spader is the man. Sorry. He is "The Man". I saw that listed in his filmography and found it a bit strange. I mean, he usually plays men. I cannot recall seeing him play a woman or a Martian.
Then I saw the film. Ah. His character has amnesia and cannot recall his own name.
One could call him "the anonymous hero", or even "the eponymous hero". Yes, I do know that "eponymous" means the person after whom the film or book is named! My point is that he washes up on the beach. He is indeed the "Driftwood" of the title, metaphorically speaking.
I hesitate to call Sarah (Anne Brochet) a heroine. She is obviously what is known as a "bunny boiler". She even shoots a bunny rabbit. Okay, let's be fair. The scene could be there to demonstrate her self-sufficiency in a rather tough and barren location rather than to make her seem callous. We don't actually see anything happening to the live rabbit. The credits assure us that no animals were harmed or ill-treated during filming.
The set decorators really deserve an award. Their work raises the film from 3-star status to four. There are so many little details that passed me by the first time I saw the film.
Even on the second viewing, I missed the statues of women's bodies, which Sarah passes as she wheels the man to her cottage. I only noticed them when I rewound the film to check on another detail. There are so many interesting little touches, including the little metal mirror, the whistling kettle and the old-fashioned motorcycle with its side car.
Even the road sign, with place names in Gaelic and English, helped to establish the authenticity of the location.
The costume department too deserves a mention. Much of Sarah's clothing, such as the oversized pinafore dresses, perfectly matches the "lost little girl" side of her personality. I find it encouraging that someone like Brochet was cast as Spader's romantic interest. Whilst she has very attractive features, beautiful eyes and glossy hair, she is far from glamorous. Her breasts, which we see naked, are on the small side: a B-cup or possibly even an A. Her hair is fairly short. Her teeth, although pretty, do not have that weird celebrity gleam to them.
She looks just right for the role.
As for the delivery guy, his teeth were such a bright yellow that I suspected the make-up department had rubbed turmeric on to them.
The message of the film was unsubtle. I get it, I get it. Holding men captive is very, very wrong. Even if they resemble James Spader.
Despite the somewhat gloomy location and somewhat grim storyline, the film is not without humour. Some of it may be unintentional. During a couple of scenes, I was reminded of those "how to film a nude scene putting objects in strategic places to prevent actual nudity" parodies.
Sarah's reference to "a film" she has seen is undoubtedly intentional humour. I imagine that most men would rather grow a beard than try a knife instead of a razor. I did wonder about Sarah's "superfluous" hair. It was hard to see if she had hair under her arms or not, because of the shadows. If she didn't, surely that would mean she did have a razor handy! She could depilate her legs using pumice stone, but no sane (or semi-sane) woman would use pumice anywhere delicate. I'm not sure the script-writer and the make-up people, or whichever department deals with underarms, thought this one through!
Would I recommend this film to other Spader fans? Certainly! The lovely little scene where he sort-of dances with a broken leg is, in itself, enough reason to see the film! Despite the obvious "no full frontal nudity" clause in his contract, we do see a lot of the rest of his body, particularly his back and the tattoo on his arm. The anonymous hero has badly injured his left leg, the same one that Spader's character damaged in "Crash" (1996), although the rather tokenistic facial injuries are different in the two films.
"Is it kinky?" Spader fans will ask. Not really. One minor character is a voyeur. I suppose you could argue that the bit with the knife is about power and control, although it is not an overtly sexual scene.
I wondered if the final line might be homage to another film.
It was sweet of the film-makers to put "first woman" in the credits, since she has no lines. I have dreams of Spader turning up to make a small indie film in my home town and my being such a talented extra that they list me in the credits ...
My favourite accessory was Sarah's strange-looking iron, although the statuette of the man deserves a mention also.
(This review refers to a VHS version of the film.)
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