Photo: Dermot Mulroney as John in David Gordon Green's Undertow
The most striking reference point for David Gordon Green's Undertow is Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter. Both tell the dreamlike tale of siblings on the run from a maniacal, murderous pursuer through a lush Southern countryside, but unlike Laughton's uniquely expressionistic and menacing classic, Green's film (as with his previous George Washington and All the Real Girls) is ultimately more soulful southern gospel than Southern gothic. Chris (Jamie Bell) is a rebellious teenager whose frustration with his father's (Dermot Mulroney) strict demands on his time—mainly involving toiling on their pig farm while his stomach pain-plagued younger brother Tim (Devon Alan) plays in the mud—has fostered a burning resentment and fierce desire to break free from his familial shackles. Nick Schager
The most striking reference point for David Gordon Green's Undertow is Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter. Both tell the dreamlike tale of siblings on the run from a maniacal, murderous pursuer through a lush Southern countryside, but unlike Laughton's uniquely expressionistic and menacing classic, Green's film (as with his previous George Washington and All the Real Girls) is ultimately more soulful southern gospel than Southern gothic. Chris (Jamie Bell) is a rebellious teenager whose frustration with his father's (Dermot Mulroney) strict demands on his time—mainly involving toiling on their pig farm while his stomach pain-plagued younger brother Tim (Devon Alan) plays in the mud—has fostered a burning resentment and fierce desire to break free from his familial shackles. Nick Schager
