The Fields

A long and winding road leading nowhere, The Fields is a mish-mash of disconnected set pieces with no real plot. While the desaturated cinematography and moody design set a general tone of gloom, and much of the acting is solid, The Fields focuses on fragmented back story, rather than a beginning, a middle, and an end. There's no connection between Steven's parents' domestic disputes and Steven's meanderings around the farm. So why did the producers even follow that storyline? Of course, one could ask the same question about any aspect of this "mystery," and ultimately, about The Fields itself. 5 points for competence, but -2 for making me waste my time.

What appears to be the dichotomy between the positive and negative reviews with regards to "The Fields" is that you have those looking for "scare the crap out of me!" horror and those that see this film is truly full of horror elements. It is not dull, boring, nor uneventful. In fact there are many different things going on here in this period piece that is very well executed and is highly worth viewing, in my (and many others') opinion. We know that film reviews are subjective: not everyone is going to like the same thing, this goes without saying. The Fields really covers so much ground and truly disturbing yet also interesting and "good" moments that it would be very unfortunate that one would not watch it based on some poor reviews. Be wary of those telling you not to waste your time. I almost heeded their words and would have missed out on this complex and realistic gem.

The Fields is one of those independents that engages and almost enamors you at the beginning. You suffer through Tara Reid giving a performance about as impressive as one of the corn stalks in the titular fields because you know Cloris Leachman is going to appear shortly and make it all better. And she does, for a while. Her brash, obnoxious, yet troubled and anxious grandmother character has depth and subtlety that's well worth seeing.

But as time goes by you start to get the uneasy feeling that the writer had no real sense of where they were taking the story. By the end of the first hour you're pretty certain that the film is going to continue turning in aimless circles and then just fizzle out... but by then you figure you've already invested an hour, you might as well see it through to the end just to see if you were right...

Half an hour later you look at the fizzled out remnants and say to yourself "yep, I was right".

It's easy to see what The Fields was aiming for - a slow burn, southern Gothic drama with horror undertones - and most of the components are solid. The direction and cinematography is nice, the acting (Reid excepted) is outstanding (even from the kid), and the score is fittingly creepy. However, as with all things the strength of the whole is dependent on the weakest link and in this case the weak link is the screenplay, and it pulls the rest of an otherwise good movie down into oblivion with its meandering trajectory.

A movie like no other....Something mundane happens to somebody platitudinous. It goes on for a bit, then it stops. You'll yawn. You'll blink. You'll wonder what Redbox did with your $1.28. The complete and total absence of action is over shadowed only by the loosely grouped events that struggle to make up a plot. The best thing that can be said for this movie is that the Director and Producers of "The English Patient" rejoiced and threw a party when it was learned their movie was no longer the single most boring piece of cinematic doldrums ever conceived. Perhaps the best review of this movie came from Leo Tolstoy, who upon viewing it said, "My God, does this EVER end?"

I usually don't write reviews to "counter" the writings of other critics, but I really feel that this movie deserves a better look than some people are giving it.

These days, people have a tendency to look up a movie and do a little reading about it before they watch it. This has pros and cons, the most significant con being that they see the words "drama" or "horror" and from that point on expect nothing but a drama or a horror. When they watch the movie and find that it does not conform itself to the labels, they complain.

Yes, this movie takes time to move, and yes you are not really sure where it's going, but boy oh boy does it ever make good at the end! The director and writers made the very excellent decision to bring in the terror at the last part of the film. This is the way it should be. THIS is how terror should be done. It's like an earthquake, hitting you when you least expect it, in a way you couldn't prepare for, knocking you off your feet. It doesn't need to make sense or "tie in" to anything else.

The first stretch of this film seems to be designed to put you off your guard, then hit you at the end. It works. It's effective. It gave me the chills. I would recommend watching it.