Susan Granger’s review of ‘THE DEEP END” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
An undercurrent of suspense flows through this sophisticated, low-budget, neo-noir thriller, set in a contemporary house at Lake Tahoe where Margaret Hall (Tilda Swinton) dutifully cares for her three children and ailing father-in-law (Peter Donat) as her husband, a Navy captain, is away at sea. But she’s worried about her furtive 17 year-old son Beau (Jonathan Tucker), a gifted trumpeter, who’s been hanging out with an older, gay lowlife (Josh Lucas) who owns a club called The Deep End. When she finds the creep dead on the beach next to her dock, she panics, only thinking of protecting Beau, so she recklessly hauls the corpse onto a boat and dumps it in a shallow inlet. But soon she’s being blackmailed by a sinister stranger (Goran Visnjic) who shows her a sleazy videotape of a sexual encounter between her son and the deceased. Working from Elizabeth Saxay Holding’s novel, “The Blank Wall,” writers-directors-producers Scott McGehee and David Siegel focus on the nightmarish maternal-sacrifice theme. But some things don’t make sense – like why she didn’t sink the body deep in the lake where it wouldn’t be found or why she reveals pertinent information regardless of the consequences. Nevertheless, as the stoic, all-American mom, Swedish actress Tilda Swinton (“Orlando”) is incandescent, reflecting strength, intelligence, refinement and courage, in an astonishing Oscar-caliber performance. And Goran Visnjic (“E.R.”) cleverly makes his sexy, hestitant thug role enigmatic. Giles Nuttgens’ splendid photography, covering everything with a chilly blue sheen and utilizing various images of water, effectively conveys the idyllic setting in which the crime cover-up occurs. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Deep End” is a tense, gripping 9. Take the plunge.
