The Glass House
**
Cinema Releases - January 25, 2002
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 15. 106
minutes. Directed by Daniel Sackheim. Written by Wesley Strick. Starring
Lelee Sobieski, Stellan Skarsgard, Diane Lane, Trevor Morgan, Bruce
Dern.
I've seen movies with tacked-on endings, but this
one has the whole second half tacked on. "The Glass House"
begins as an absorbing atmosphere piece and degenerates into an overwrought
conspiracy thriller about evil stepparents. The first forty minutes contain
discussion of Shakespeare, the last hour is a journey towards one of those
action climaxes with lots of sound and fury, signifying nothing. We even
get treated to the slasher-pic cliché of the villain coming back from
the dead for one last scare.
Lelee Sobieski and Trevor Morgan star as a pair
of kids from Seattle whose parents are killed in a car wreck on their twentieth
wedding anniversary. The children find themselves moving to California to
stay with their godparents, Mr. Glass (Stellan Skarsgard) and Dr. Glass (Diane
Lane), who of course live in a house covered in glass containing lots of
glass utensils.
The director, Daniel Sackheim, makes the situation
feel dark and slightly off-key. Odd things abound, like certain gestures
from Skarsgard, morphine appearing in Lane's bathroom and the fact that the
kids have to share a bedroom -- but nothing exactly malevolent goes on. The
atmosphere is strange and unsettling without any obvious evil.
And then Sobieski starts to overhear suspicious
phone conversations, and we see Lane shooting herself up, and Skarsgard seems
to be playing mind games with Sobieski and preventing her from communicating
with the outside world. There are a bunch of hilariously silly scenes in
Sobieski's school, whereby teachers creep up on her and solemnly declare
"You must come with me!", because Skarsgard has been getting her in trouble.
It all builds to the violent conclusion, where Skarsgard justifies all Sobieski's
fears, and Sobieski exacts revenge. "The Glass House" does such a good job
of getting under our skin in its first half that it feels like more than
a cop-out when it resorts to this traditionally shallow resolution. This
is expert filmmaking at the service of the cheapest writing.
Sobieski is an actress of grounding and intensity,
and couldn't look superficial if she tried. It's a pity that this had to
be her first lead role, but I guess the mere fact of her rising billing counts
for something. She will go on to better things, as will Sackheim, while
screenwriter Wesley Strick will find that, as time goes by, less and less
people are returning his calls.
COPYRIGHT©
2002 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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