The Clearing starts with a missed dinner party and ends with a whimper. What happens in between often doesn’t make sense…
But still I was inexplicably satisfied once the credits rolled despite all evidence to the contrary.
Wayne Hayes (Robert Redford) is the high powered exec who doesn’t arrive home to wife Eileen (Helen Mirren) one night. Annoyance turns to worry and subsequently despair when the ransom note shows…
The film then follows two paths; Eileen and her dealings with the (adult) kids and the police, and Wayne and chatty kidnapper Arnold (Willem Dafoe).
Eileen is steely determined in the face of the intrusive FBI and the ‘kids’ who require someone to be strong, but vulnerable and understandably distraught when out of their sight.
Wayne is understandably perturbed by his predicament, especially when the frank and open Arnold shows the lengths that he has gone to in terms of ‘homework’ in casing the job, yet for his part Arnold claims that he is merely a ‘cog’ in the machine, but a small part of a much larger operation.
Wayne is forced at gunpoint by Arnold to trudge through a forest to an unknown destination for a long time, but for Eileen the wait appears much longer.
The film jumps between the two groups and ignores linear narratives, which is confusing until you realise what is happening. I remain confused as to why I almost liked The Clearing enough to recommend it, despite the fact that it has almost nothing to use as evidence to back such a claim.
I guess it could be the acting, after all Robert Redford, Willem Dafoe and Helen Mirren aren’t your usual Mickey Mouse Club graduates, but in truth while their performances are admirable they aren’t called upon to exhibit much in the way of acting chops.
It sure as hell isn’t the plot, which is formulaic and somehow incomplete.
Which really only leaves me the possibility that I find comfort in the familiar faces and plot events. Like a pair of scrappy slippers they aren’t that good but at the right moment they are all you need.
Final Rating – 6 / 10. In reality I think The Clearing is a 90 minute kidnapping film about not much notable only for the cadre of the cast members, but the other night I kinda wanted some warm slippers.
