I think it's interesting that one of the negative comments about this film is that it is predictable. Agreed, unpredictability can be a fine asset for a movie -- if it works. But I ask you, flixster friends, if predictability is a negative, what do we do with all of the films we love that are based on historical
fact? Do we rate them lower because we know how the story ends? As an example, do we think less of All the President's Men because we all know how Watergate played out thanks in large part to Woodward and Bernstein? Even more pointedly, do all of Shakespeare's history plays automatically receive one or more stars fewer because they are just a rehash of the same old story of those same old English monarchs? I know, these are loaded, almost rhetorical questions, but seriously, just because a story might be predictable, I find it very hard to affirm that this should count as a strike against it. Which brings me to Shower. Yes, it is predictable -- although my buddy James is still wondering how an entire film can be made about a bathhouse : ) But like, say, Shakespeare's Henry V, I think it is the telling of the tale that either grips the audience or loses it, not whether we can easily guess or already know well how it will turn out. And herein lies, I believe, Shower's greatest strength: It is very well told, in the tradition of the very best kind of well-crafted albeit predictable tale. The acting is brilliant, the story very moving, and the "moral" uplifting. You know, kind of like all those ancient Greek tragedies that the audience came to see again and again and again and again even though they all knew by heart the life stories of folks like boring old Oedipus.When one of my friends says, "That movie was sooooo predictable," that only means one thing to me: That movie sucked on more than just the total unpredictability vs. total predictability spectrum. I encourage you to check out this stunningly predictable film.
January 18, 2011
