The Deep End

The enchanting opening score and a dominant blue hue eases its way of a concealed familial drama with a murder case, a blackmail and an in-the-closet gay son. Out of expectation, a lesser impact on the gay culture, the film endeavors a strenuous effort to accent on a desperate mother's instinct of shielding her son, and magnificently the plot concocts a cordial twist to furnish the film with compassion and great gratification.

Tilda Swinton is the ace here (vaguely has sustained her indie-queen ethereality into a more mainstream scope since then), magnifying every impression into an intact personification of a role model mother of three children, who struggles to cover a murder case which she thinks has executed by her elder gay son (which is barely the truth as audience has witnessed the entire occurrence), after that developing a mutual affinity with a young gay blackmailer, things start to become more engrossing. Goran Visnjic is equally empathetic and even a tad overshadowing Ms. Swinton during the final confrontation (a poignant moment arrives when their lips are so close to each other near the end of the film).

It never goes awry with the things-getting-worse-until-the-very-end mode, at first one might sense a pro-WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (2011) ominous trauma was awaiting us, congenially enough it is not about the embittering mother-son's love/hate perplexity. This indie gem from director duo Scott McGehee & David Siegel (whose later feature BEE SEASON 2005 is a rueful misfire, a 5/10 in my rating, while their latest WHAT MAISIE KNEW starring my diva Julianne Moore is on the shelf this year) needs more credit for its adroit exposition, splendidly heart-rending impetus and the celeste tableau.

Who came up with the summary, "spirals out of control"? Margaret, is, if anything, too much in control! One waits throughout the movie for her control to break. Who put her in charge of her son's destiny? Why is she willing, even at the moment she "speaks the truth" in all but this one respect, to specify HERSELF as the one responsible for her son's lover's death? She'll do anything to help him go on to college as a music major, but she won't be able to shield him always from the consequences of his own bad judgment. And perhaps her horrified expression as she watches the video reflects this realization as much as it does her visceral horror at the activity taking place. He is the one who is "spiraling out of control"--HER control. She is trying, presumably at her husband's behest before he shipped out, to make & keep the world safe for her family. But their domestic tranquility is built on a foundation of corruption--that of nearby Reno & its gambling enterprises & related criminal activities. Perhaps at the end when she breaks down & weeps, she is finally letting go of her "sense of control," along with her innocence, which has been compromised much more deeply than that of her son.

This film is like a great term paper: it flows like fire-water from a heated pitcher. I bought it on a caprice, only to rivet myself to the screen unexpectedly. Tilda Swinton is absolutely flawless (not to mention Visnjic) in a very strange tale about a mother's endless desire to protect. Not that I consider it a true flaw, but I would have liked for Margaret to tell Beau exactly why things had been so screwy and deadly for the past two days. The opportunity arises at the very end but she decides not. For me, I certainly would have explained to a seventeen-year-old boy that if he screws around with derelicts in seedy closets, people die. It's sort of an important part of growing up. However, directors McGehee and Siegel decide to omit that part. While the film is a must for thrill-seekers, I really felt that the boy should have been let in on the sticky, lethal web his juvenile lust did spin. BUT TILDA ROCKS! Just like this movie.

I cannot believe the negative remarks about this movie. I thought this movie was excellent. The majority of complaints on this board, are more about the lighting, sound and technical crap that regular people who go to the movies just don't look for. You go to a movie to get lost for a couple of hours and enjoy yourself. If your going to the movies only for the technical side of the movie, then why go at all.

This movie showed the extent that a mother would go through to protect her son and her family. This lady totally went above and beyond everything to protect her son from the truth, which he never found out.

The only real problem I had with this movie was that the word "Gay" was never said. Not once. Unless my hearing left me when it was said. It was referenced and even a little sex was shown, but the word was never said.

Other than that, I enjoyed this movie completely. Just Terrific!!!!!!!!

THE DEEP END is an original and suspenseful thriller, pitting a mother, played by Tilda Swinton, against a blackmailer, played by Goran Visnjic. It's the relationship between the two that drives this movie, as Visnjic's character begins to change because of the decency and honesty he encounters in Swinton's character. I gave this 8 out of 10 instead of 9 out of 10 because the ending is somewhat predictable, it's like something from a 1930's big Hollywood studio film. Nevertheless, a compelling script and convincing performances from all the actors make this worth seeing.

8/10