Year: 2012
Director: Barry Levinson
Screenplay: Michael Wallach
Starring: Will Rogers, Kristen Connolly, Kether Donohue,
Frank Deal, Stephen Nunken, Christopher Denham, Nansi Aluka
Synopsis is here
Look around hard enough and you’ll find critics who greatly
admired The Bay. The Guardian’s David Cox wisely considered the feature a
horror film for grown-ups. Behind the film’s found footage gimmick is a multifaceted
piece which holds an honest focus on characters that more popular counterparts
would use awkwardly against a typical, more cumbersome plot. Yet despite this;
I found that thoughtful ideas aside, nothing in the film lingers. I appreciate
the films intent, but nothing truly tantalises.
One of The Bay’s main problems is that Levinson (a veteran
director who’s new to horror) strangely doesn't get to grips with the meat of
the piece. An early scene which highlights a river attack (with the footage
edited to look like it’s been damaged by water), is cut with such excellent
timing that it raised my expectations for any further set pieces. However such moments are place few and far
between, much like the captured fleeting moments we see of a scared 15 year old
on face time. The heavily saturated, mass footage slammed together with such a
queasy rhythm it creates a beautifully pitched chaotic mosaic. Troubled gazes
stare weakly into our own before being contrasted with a pretty mother with
baby in tow, beaming broadly into a HD camera. The American flag blows proudly
in the background as she and her family have no clue of the carnage that
awaits.
But these moments just do not last. What does hang around is
the slack jawed lead narration from Kether Donohue who seems uneasy with the
large amount of the film she has to carry. Wallach’s script does little to help
matters. The narration and dialogue feels forced and stilted and the weaker
performers do little to elevate matters. The Bay has the same problem that flustered
George A Romero’s Diary of the Dead (2005), with a script that stutters, starts,
splutters and spoon feeds it’s more appealing ideas within aesthetic that is
often more trouble than it’s worth. Visually The Bay could have benefited from
using less of the found footage. The moments I mentioned above get lost inside
a flatly captured world that really hurt the atmosphere.
But of course that’s one of the biggest issues with found
footage. It’s already tough to have a crew skilled enough to make something
compelling out of footage meant to look like a compiled artefact. The Bay only
hits those peaks once or twice. However as we see the found footage style seep
into cinema more, the more it’s starting to feel like a crutch.The Bay; unlike
more accomplished films of its ilk, has the found footage style feel like more of a
distraction than anything. As the film goes on it feels less like a movie and more like a goof. Fear was the last thing on my mind. I found myself
wondering if I've seen anyone do something similar with fewer gimmicks and more
emphasis on adult terror. The name was Steven Soderbergh, the film was Contagion (2011).
