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THE CLEARING Send This Review to a Friend
Superior actors Robert Redford, Helen Mirren and Willem Dafoe are undermined in “The Clearing,” mired in a foggy screenplay and more improbabilities than one should describe in deference to those who insist on seeing for themselves. The drama, produced and directed by Peter Jan Brugge and scripted by Justin Haythe, is about a kidnapping, with the emphasis on psychological interplay rather than taut action. The talk tends to get boring, and the film comes alive only when Mirren as Eileen, the victim’s wife, is being led on a desperate mission to deliver the demanded ransom.
Redford stars as the well-heeled and successful Wayne Hayes, snatched at gunpoint by a disgruntled lower class kidnapper, Arnold Mack (Dafoe), who says he is only doing a job under orders. As Wayne is led handcuffed through the woods, he exploits the class differences between them and berates Mack for being a miserable nobody. On his part, Mack is resentful of a man who supposedly has it all. There’s a surface interest in the juxtaposition, but despite the quality of the acting, the situation grows tedious because everything seems false the way it plays out. Wayne’s infidelity also figures in the angst.
In his direction Brugge tries to make the action taut by using fast editing in places, but nothing can disguise the lack of believability at so key many points. “The Clearing” is tolerable only because of the acting by its stars, who have often seen better action elsewhere. A Fox Searchlight release.
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