[HorrorScience] The Cell (2000)

Reading time: 10 minutes

Year

2000

Director

Tarsem Singh

Script

Mark Protosevich

Duration

115 minutes

Distribution

Jennifer Lopez, Vincent D'Onofrio, Vince Vaughn, Jake Weber, Dylan Baker, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Tara Subkoff, Catherine Sutherland, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Musetta Vander, Dean Norris, Peter Sarsgaard

There are so many films that appear in a year that it is impossible not to miss one, even if you are only looking for a specific genre. The fact that some films invest hundreds of millions in advertising also means that others are completely overshadowed and we forget their existence in a short time, even when they have some specific claim that makes them stand out (at the advertising level).

Fortunately today it is quite easy to find movies that we have missed and take a look at them, but to do so we first need someone to remind us that they exist. That's where pages like this one, blogs, videos and of course friends come in, because you never know who is going to give you a recommendation when you least expect it.

This is how I discovered the movieThe Cell(The celleitherThe cellin Spanish), released in 2000, starring Jennifer Lopez, Vincent D'Onofrio and Vince Vaughn. The choice of actors seemed tremendously unusual to me, since we have the excellent D'Onofrio (who many will know playing Kingpin in the series ofDaredevilor for his iconic role inFull Metal Jacket) sharing scenes with singer Jennifer Lopez. But I forgot that the moment I saw that the story was aboutthe protagonist entered the mind of a serial killer. The proposal was daring and strange enough for me to refuse, so recently I was able to enjoy it and I feel the moral obligation to talk about it, in case someone among the readers wants to discover or remember it.

The film begins by showing us the protagonist, Catherine Deane, wandering through a beautiful place that seems to be part of a fantasy world, and in fact it is, wellShe finds herself in the mind of Edward Baines, a boy who fell into a coma., with which he hopes to make the necessary progress within your mind for you to recover.

Dealing with another person's mind seems like a demanding and even frustrating process, becauseCatherine is only a spectator and has to negotiate with the owner of the mind to try to help him., something that is not always possible. Due to the little progress in his treatment, Edward's parents consider leaving him and opting for some type of traditional treatment in a hospital.

On the other hand we see thatThe police are after a serial killer,who enjoys torturing and killing young women. Agent Peter Novak of the FBI sees with frustration that the murderer is increasing his rate of murders, and that they are never able to find any clue that brings them closer to knowing his identity. The situation worsens when they discover that another young girl has recently disappeared and everything indicates that she will suffer the same fate as the others.

Thanks to the remains of the last victim, the FBI manages to identify the main suspect in the murders: a young, single boy named Carl Rudolph. At the moment they enter the suspect's house,They find him on the ground, in a coma., as he has suffered a schizophrenic outbreak that has left him catatonic.

When investigating Carl's houseThey find evidence that proves that he is the murderer, since it has recordings of the victims drowning in a water tank while begging for their lives. Seeing that the missing girl is not at Carl's house, the agents deduce that she is already trapped in the water tank, so they have a deadline to find her, but since they have no clues about the possible location of the site and that Carl is in a coma, there is no way to obtain any information.

That's whenthe FBI turns to Catherineand tells him the situation. She, despite being scared, decides to enter Carl's mind to try to talk to him and get the information out.

The first contact with Carl's mind is somewhat strange, as Catherine finds a small and fearful child who runs away from her, but at one point helps her so that she does not get hurt. That child is the little good that remains within Carl, since his alter ego is the one who dominates the mind, something that can be quickly seen in the world where Catherine finds herself, whereeverything looks like a nightmareand there are many of Carl's victims displayed as if it were a human zoo. Finally, Catherine encounters the evil side of Carl, lord and lord of that horrible world, and the situation causes her to disconnect from the murderer's mind.

After this attempt, Catherine is terrified and does not want to enter Carl's mind again, since apparently the procedure can be lethal for the person who enters another's brain, since if they fall into a panic situation or lose control, their mind will interpret that what happens in the mind is true, which can lead to death.

Catherine is aware that if she enters Carl's world again, her life will be in danger,but decides to try again, at which point she will fall victim to Carl, thus forcing Peter Novak's entry into the fantasy world, to snap Catherine out of her panic and try to confront Carl together, hoping to obtain some kind of information to save the missing girl before it is too late.

The Cellis a film that, despite complying with some common clichés,It looks different from what we would usually see in the cinema.The story of trying to obtain information from a murderer to save a victim is not something new, but on this occasion they have taken literally the “enter the mind of the murderer” and that is something that the film uses completely to its advantage, since the most interesting thing about it are those scenes.

Everything that happens in the world of the mind, whether Edward or Carl, has an unreal aspect,of fantasy, which makes the film become a dream (or a nightmare) for the viewer.The work that goes into those scenes, from a visual and creative point of view, is enormous., and thanks to that, the premise of “getting into someone else's mind” works very well.Edward's world seems straight out of a fantasy book, lo cual encaja con su mente infantil, mientras queel mundo de Carl parece un mundo distópico, con elementos estéticos propios de un museo de tortura y algo de sadomasoquismo,todo ello liderado por el único señor del lugar, Carl, el cual se ve a sí mismo como un dios imparable.

En las escenas de la mente de Carl, la película sobresale notablemente, se vuelve retorcida, incómoda, entra directamente en la categoría de terrory hasta incluye escenas de tortura más explicitas que lo visto hasta el momento en la película.La estética va cambiando si la situación se pone a favor de un personaje u otroy la apariencia de los mismos también se modifica, lo cual abre la puerta a incluir escenas con simbolismo religioso en su parte final. Analizando un poco la película, es fácil ver inspiración clarísima (o incluso reinterpretación) de obras de diferentes artistas, lo cual aumenta esa sensación de mundo irreal de pesadilla.

The Celltiene solo tres personajes principales, Catherine (Jennifer Lopez), Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn) y Carl Rudolph (Vincent D’Onofrio), de manera que el peso de las actuaciones caen directamente sobre ellos. No me queda ninguna duda queel mejor actor de los tres es Vincent, quien hace un buen papel (como siempre), aunque debido a lo retorcido de su personaje, muchas de sus escenas son un tanto “particulares”.Jennifer Lopez cumple con su papelde protagonista, no es excelente, pero tampoco te saca de la película, mientras queVince Vaughn me parece el más flojode los tres, en parte arrastrado por su propio personaje pues es bastante simple y típico.

The Celles una película de suspense, centrada en una investigación policía, pero con un gran porcentaje de ciencia ficción y terror, creando una mezcla particular, que da un buen resultado siempre que seamos conscientes que, pese a cumplir con algunos tópicos del cine norteamericano,no es una película pensada para gustar al gran público,es incómoda, sucia y retorcida. Si os apetece sumergiros en la mente de un retorcido asesino y ver de primera mano cómo sería su mundo de pesadilla, os la recomiendo.

Curiosidades de The Cell

Tuvo una nominación al Oscar por mejor maquillaje y peluquería
Para prepararse el personaje de Carl, Vincent D’Onofrio se aisló de su familia y estudió casos de asesinos en serie.
Eiko Ishioka fue la diseñadora de vestuario de esta película, el director la contrató tras ver su excelente trabajo enDracula(1992) y ambos trabajaron juntos desde ese momento hasta la muerte de la diseñadora. Es por eso que el traje que usa Catherine para meterse en mentes ajenas, es muy parecido a la armadura de Drácula de dicha película.
El director deThe Cell(Tarsem Singh) también dirigió el videoclip de LosingMy Religionde la banda REM y debido a ello hay ciertas similitudes entre ese video y algunas escenas de la película.
La película tuvo un presupuesto relativamente pequeño (33 millones) y su recaudación fue de 104 millones, más del triple de lo invertido.
La mujer que atrapa a Catherine en el mundo de Carl es una deportista profesional y campeona de culturismo llamada Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls.
En la parte final de la película podemos ver que Catherine tiene un atuendo similar al que suele representar a la virgen María, lo cual causó cierta controversia y algunas críticas, pero el director aclaró que el traje estaba basado en la diosa del agua de Brasil.
La tortura a la que someten a Peter Novak está basada en una tortura real practicada por la inquisición española.
En el año 2009 se lanzó una secuela llamadaThe Cell 2directamente para DVD, donde no participaron ninguno de los protagonistas de la primera película.
La escena que vemos cuando Peter entra en la mente de Carl, está basada en un cuadro llamado Dawn del artista Odd Nerdrum.