Out of the Blue
Out of the Blue ***
Directed by Robert Sarkies
Written by Robert Sarkies, based on the book by Bill O'Brien
Starring:
Karl Urban as Nick Harvey
Matthew Sunderland as David Gray
Lois Lawn as Helen Dickson
Simon Ferry as Garry Holden
Tandi Wright as Julie-Anne Bryson
Paul Glover as Paul Knox
103 Minutes(Not Rated-Strong Violence and Language)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Certain to fall under the radar from now until the end of time, "Out of the Blue" is certainly a shocking film, and one that ends up being both tragic and hard to watch and at the same times uplifting. It also leads me to believe that if there wasn't an IFC Center in Manhattan, this film may never have even been brought to the states, and a one theatre opening weekend with only two shows a day is not satisfying. Based on a real life event that occurred for a twenty four hour period on November 13th in a little village in New Zealand called Aramoana, "Out of the Blue" puts you right in the middle of tragic events as they are happening, without the stale victim subplots. This is probably one of the most realistic looks into a mass killing that I have ever seen.
November 13th really started like a day of any other, and for the first twenty minutes of the movie we get introduced to various people in the town. There is Garry Holden, who is planning to move in with his long time girlfriend with two children-this is probably the most information to get about a character before the event. We meet an old man and his son living together, and a group of young people starting a barbecue. We then get introduced to David Gray, a rather eccentric gun collector who lives by himself amongst large piles of books. Everybody knows him, but don't really like to involve themselves with him, even though there are brief snippets of dialogue that suggest he was not always so by himself. After an incident in a bank he retreats to his home, and after the next little thing that happens he loads himself up and begins to shoot people all around him. The Massacre ended with thirteen people being killed as many of them ran away or began to hide. Gray seemed to only be killing the people that were right in sight, even setting his house on fire. Eventually police men get involved, including Nick Harvey-played by Karl Urban, who never gets the right roles in American films-and after twenty four hours Gray is finally shot by police.
Like I said, after about the twenty minute mark, Gray begins his release of anger, and from that point on we watch as many get slaughtered, try to escape, help others, etc. What I liked most about this movie was that it didn't get into stale characters. We don't know much about the people in the town except for a few little things to make them seem three dimensional. But writer/director Robert Sarkies did not have it in mind to create a melodrama of the people before, during, and after the attack-he wanted to recreate the incident as it happened. And it makes for a fascinating film. Of all the minor stories of hero's, the best has to be about Helen Dickson-played by first time actress Lois Lawn. Dickson has to be in her seventies, and recently has hip surgery. When she sees a man get shot, she crawls back to her home on her stomach, calls the police, crawls back to let the man know, and then retreats back to her house where she sits by the phone on the floor and waits, carefully answering the rather loud phone and speaking in a very low voice. During on screen text right before the end credits, it made me happy to see that she won a medal from the Queen for such acts of bravery.
"Out of the Blue" is certainly a powerful and extremely well made movie, putting you in the very center of this tragic incident as it happened. I was impressed by the realism handled perfectly by Sarkies, and in lesser hands this could have been twisted into something all wrong. I'm also curious to learn more about the event, and plan on looking for the book "Aramoana" by Bill O'Brien, to which this film is based on. Sadly "Out of the Blue" will never reach a very large audience, and we can only hope that the IFC channel and DVD will give it the audience it deserves. For New York audiences who have the chance to see it, I urge you to go. It's well worth the effort.
Now Playing:
IFC Center
Directed by Robert Sarkies
Written by Robert Sarkies, based on the book by Bill O'Brien
Starring:
Karl Urban as Nick Harvey
Matthew Sunderland as David Gray
Lois Lawn as Helen Dickson
Simon Ferry as Garry Holden
Tandi Wright as Julie-Anne Bryson
Paul Glover as Paul Knox
103 Minutes(Not Rated-Strong Violence and Language)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Certain to fall under the radar from now until the end of time, "Out of the Blue" is certainly a shocking film, and one that ends up being both tragic and hard to watch and at the same times uplifting. It also leads me to believe that if there wasn't an IFC Center in Manhattan, this film may never have even been brought to the states, and a one theatre opening weekend with only two shows a day is not satisfying. Based on a real life event that occurred for a twenty four hour period on November 13th in a little village in New Zealand called Aramoana, "Out of the Blue" puts you right in the middle of tragic events as they are happening, without the stale victim subplots. This is probably one of the most realistic looks into a mass killing that I have ever seen.
November 13th really started like a day of any other, and for the first twenty minutes of the movie we get introduced to various people in the town. There is Garry Holden, who is planning to move in with his long time girlfriend with two children-this is probably the most information to get about a character before the event. We meet an old man and his son living together, and a group of young people starting a barbecue. We then get introduced to David Gray, a rather eccentric gun collector who lives by himself amongst large piles of books. Everybody knows him, but don't really like to involve themselves with him, even though there are brief snippets of dialogue that suggest he was not always so by himself. After an incident in a bank he retreats to his home, and after the next little thing that happens he loads himself up and begins to shoot people all around him. The Massacre ended with thirteen people being killed as many of them ran away or began to hide. Gray seemed to only be killing the people that were right in sight, even setting his house on fire. Eventually police men get involved, including Nick Harvey-played by Karl Urban, who never gets the right roles in American films-and after twenty four hours Gray is finally shot by police.
Like I said, after about the twenty minute mark, Gray begins his release of anger, and from that point on we watch as many get slaughtered, try to escape, help others, etc. What I liked most about this movie was that it didn't get into stale characters. We don't know much about the people in the town except for a few little things to make them seem three dimensional. But writer/director Robert Sarkies did not have it in mind to create a melodrama of the people before, during, and after the attack-he wanted to recreate the incident as it happened. And it makes for a fascinating film. Of all the minor stories of hero's, the best has to be about Helen Dickson-played by first time actress Lois Lawn. Dickson has to be in her seventies, and recently has hip surgery. When she sees a man get shot, she crawls back to her home on her stomach, calls the police, crawls back to let the man know, and then retreats back to her house where she sits by the phone on the floor and waits, carefully answering the rather loud phone and speaking in a very low voice. During on screen text right before the end credits, it made me happy to see that she won a medal from the Queen for such acts of bravery.
"Out of the Blue" is certainly a powerful and extremely well made movie, putting you in the very center of this tragic incident as it happened. I was impressed by the realism handled perfectly by Sarkies, and in lesser hands this could have been twisted into something all wrong. I'm also curious to learn more about the event, and plan on looking for the book "Aramoana" by Bill O'Brien, to which this film is based on. Sadly "Out of the Blue" will never reach a very large audience, and we can only hope that the IFC channel and DVD will give it the audience it deserves. For New York audiences who have the chance to see it, I urge you to go. It's well worth the effort.
Now Playing:
IFC Center
posted by Eric at
12:51 AM
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