Open Water DVD: Review By Dodd

I thank my lucky stars everyday for independent film. In a world of "money, money, money" and high grosser, it is sometimes hard to find a film with original concepts and well-written scripts. Every year, production companies hit up the film festival circuit to place bids on independent pictures with the highest potential. One of my personal favorite film festival babies in 2004 is Open Water, which was picked up at last year's Sundance Film Festival.

The "Hollywood pitch" method of describing Open Water is as a cross between Jaws and The Blair Witch Project. Daniel (Daniel Travis) and Susan (Blanchard Ryan) play an unmarried couple that head down to the Caribbean for a vacation of rest and relaxation. Among the many sites to see in the topical region, they decide to take part in a tourist scuba expedition. After a miscount of the scuba equipment the shuttle boat takes off leaving Daniel and Susan in the middle of the ocean.

The rest (and most) of the film focuses on Daniel and Susan as they drift stranded in the sea and try to come up with ways to resolve their situation. As time goes by, they face obstacles of malnourishment, drowning, and sea creatures such as sharks, barracudas, and stingrays.

The picture is shot digitally on a tight budget of $130,000. With the digital taping, the movie has a doc*mentary-like feel to it. Creative filmmakers with little money to spend can take advantage of their limited resources, and that is just what director/writer Chris Kentis does here. For over an hour the camera sits on the film's protagonists as it bobs up and down in the ocean's tide. Instead of using mechanical or CG sea creatures, the real things are shown swarming around Daniel and Susan as they frighteningly drift in the open sea.

Open Water is probably the scariest film I have seen this year and that is because it focuses on realistic human emotions. After Susan and Daniel rise to the surface to find their boat is missing, they are somewhat calm. They are certain that it will turn up eventually. As an audience we know they are in for a huge disappointment, and it is watching them slowly realize this that adds to the movie's tension. The script does not do what most scripts would do and give the couple comical or sharp lines to mutter at a time when most people would not be producing clever one-liners. The performance style seems very much improvised as the protagonists evoke realistic responses to their situation. At one point, when much time has passed, they even point fingers at one another as to whose fault it is that they are in the predicament.

The Indie Essentials: A Filmmaker's Guide to Gearing Up For a Marketable Movie

A short, but fantastic feature about making independent films. Executives from Lion's Gate and Open Water filmmakers discuss the importance of "high concept, low budget" with indie films. This reinforces my previous comments about the independent film market: there is a lot of great stuff out there just waiting to be discovered.

Calm Before the Storm: The Making of Open Water

I love it when DVD features actually discuss filmmaking, and this one does just that. Director Chris Kentis, producer Laura Lau, and the stars of the movie discuss the shoot, which was done on weekends and holidays. The events are discussed in chronological order from finding the right stars, keeping the film within budget, wrangling the live sharks, and the film scoring big on the film festival circuit. I highly recommend this featurette.

Deleted Scenes

Most of these are introductory scenes that take place before the dive that pretty much becomes the movie. Most of these were worth the snipping, but the alternate opening sequence is worth watching just to get a glimpse at a more straightforward opening with little introduction.

Bonus On-Location Footage

This is very amateur footage from the set of the film. I found it to be quite irritating due to the choppy, poor sound quality. This is probably worth skipping.

Commentary

One track is with producer Laura Lau and director Chris Kentis, while a second track is with Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis. Lau and Kentis provide a feel-good track with their enthusiastic, friendly attitudes combined with plenty of trivial facts about shooting the film. I usually find actor commentary tracks to be useless, but Ryan and Travis steer this track in the right direction due mostly in part to the adventure the actors faced making a thriller such as this.

Widescreen Format. The digital picture quality is not the usual mainstream fare, but it is the low-budget picture quality that makes the movie what it is. As well, there are many beautiful underwater shots.

5.1 and 2.0 Dolby, 5.1 DTS, English. This is not a film of epic proportions requiring a top-of-the-line sound system. However, the authentic sound of ocean water splish-splashing on my stereo speakers made me feel like I was drifting at sea after a while.

Standard DVD keep case with a photo of Ryan and Travis drifting in the water next to a visible shark fin. The cover illustration does a good job summarizing the film.

Open Water is one of the better titles I have seen this year, and the DVD gains even more kudos. The extra features are not piled high, but the quality of the information is top-notch. It is rare that filmmakers sit down and offer so much insight as Lau and Kentis do through the features and commentary track.

Beware to those that are motion sick, or sea sick. The direction here puts the viewer right in the middle of the action. However, for those who like their thrillers a little more on the realistic side without the candy-coated drama, then Open Water is a recommended purchase.

Questions? Comments? Drop me a line at dodd@movieweb.com