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57 - City Lights News Highlights/Events November 1998 - Prince Albert citylightsnews.com |
Dark City is a 1998 American science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas. The film was written by Proyas, Lem Dobbs, and David S. Goyer, and stars Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, and Jennifer Connelly. While it was not a major box office success when released originally, it has subsequently developed a considerable cult fanbase among cineastes. Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert is especially fond of the film, calling it the best of 1998.[1]
[edit] PlotJohn Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) awakens in a hotel bathtub, suffering from what seems to be amnesia. As he stumbles into his hotel room, he receives a telephone call from Dr. Daniel Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland), who urges him to flee the hotel from a group of men who are after him. During the telephone conversation, John discovers the corpse of a brutalised, ritualistically murdered woman, along with a bloody knife. Murdoch flees the scene, just as the figure, known as the Strangers, arrive at the room. Eventually he learns his real name, and finds his wife Emma (Jennifer Connelly). He is also sought by police inspector Frank Bumstead (William Hurt) for a series of murders, which he cannot remember. While being pursued by The Strangers, Murdoch discovers that he has psychokinetic powers like them and uses it to escape from them. Murdoch moves about the city, which experiences perpetual night. He sees people become comatose at midnight, with the cityscape being altered along with people's identities being changed at that time. Murdoch questions the dark urban environment and discovers through clues and interviews with his family that he was originally from a coastal town called Shell Beach. Attempts at finding a way out of the city to Shell Beach are hindered by lack of reliable information from everyone he meets. Meanwhile, the Strangers, disturbed by the presence of a human who also possesses tuning, their psychokinetic powers, inject one of their men, Mr. Hand (Richard O'Brien) with Murdoch's memories in an attempt to find him. Murdoch eventually found Bumstead, who recognizes Murdoch's innocence and has his own questions about the nature of the dark city. They find and confront Dr. Schreber, who explains that the Strangers are endangered extraterrestrial parasites who use corpses as their hosts. Having a collective consciousness, the Strangers have been experimenting with humans to analyze the nature versus nurture concept of their human hosts in order to survive through memories. Schreber reveals Murdoch as an anomaly who inadvertently awoke during the midnight process when Schreber was in the middle of fashioning his identity as the murderer. The three men embark to find Shell Beach, which ultimately exists only as a billboard at the edge of the city. Frustrated, Murdoch tears through the wall, revealing a hole into outer space. The men are confronted by the Strangers, including Mr. Hand, who holds Emma hostage. In the ensuing fight, Bumstead, along with one of the Strangers, falls through the hole into space, revealing the city as an enormous space habitat surrounded by a force field. The Strangers bring Murdoch to their home beneath the city and force Dr. Schreber to imprint Murdoch with their collective memory, believing Murdoch to be the final answer to their experiments. Schreber, having worked for the Strangers, betrays them instead by inserting false memories in Murdoch that use his memories and therefore the time of his entire life to train his tuning abilities. Murdoch awakens, fully realizing his abilities, frees himself and battles with the Strangers, defeating their leader Mr. Book (Ian Richardson) in a battle high above the city. After learning that "Emma" is gone and can't be restored, Murdoch utilizes his newfound powers through the Strangers' machine to create an actual Shell Beach by flooding the area within the force field with water and forming mountains and beaches. On his way to Shell Beach, Murdoch encounters Mr. Hand and informs him that the Strangers have been searching in the wrong place, the head, to understand humanity. Murdoch opens the door leading out of the city, and steps into sunlight that he fashioned. Beyond him is a dock, where he finds Emma, now with new memories and a new identity as Anna. Murdoch reintroduces himself as they walk to Shell Beach, beginning their relationship anew. [edit] ProductionDirector Alex Proyas wrote Dark City during 1990 and had the project associated initially with Walt Disney Pictures and then 20th Century Fox. The studios reneged on their agreements with Proyas due to their issues with the complexity of the story. New Line Cinema eventually accepted the project for production.[2] Before the final title of Dark City, the film had the working titles of Dark Empire and Dark World.[3] The film begins with a voice-over narration that reveals several major plot twists, which Proyas says was studio-imposed and "unnecessary".[4] [edit] WritingDirector Alex Proyas first wrote the story of Dark City during 1991 as a detective story. The protagonist was a detective investigating a case that did not make logical sense, driving him insane as the evidence pointed to a larger, incomprehensible scheme. The detective was originally pursuing Murdoch, but Proyas considered the detective's perspective too analytical and changed it to the perspective of the man being chased for a more emotive perspective. The original plot was changed to the story of Eddie Walenski in the film, played by Colin Friels. Proyas was also inspired by science fiction stories of simulated reality that he read during his childhood. The director considered the result to be a Raymond Chandler story with a science fiction twist.[5] The original ending for Dark City was bleak, with the Strangers claiming victory. Proyas, not liking the ending, decided to alter it to focus on the "individual's triumph" in an environment where individuality was being suppressed.[5] [edit] CastingDirector Alex Proyas saw actor Rufus Sewell in several English television productions and a London stage show, and decided to cast the actor in the lead role of Dark City.[5] Proyas cited actor Richard O'Brien, who portrays the Stranger Mr. Hand in Dark City, as the inspiration for the design of the Strangers themselves. Proyas was familiar with the actor's previous work and had discussions with O'Brien and other actors including Ian Richardson and David Wenham, who portrayed the Strangers to emulate O'Brien's presentation.[5] The character Dr. Daniel P. Schreber was imagined originally by Proyas to be an older man. During the casting process, Proyas decided to have the doctor portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland, who the director believed would seem more motivated to escape from the Strangers if he were young and still had potential.[5] [edit] FilmingFilming took place in Sydney, Australia.[5] Dark City has one of the shortest average shot lengths of a modern film; a film cut occurs in the film, on average, every 1.8 seconds.[6] [edit] DesignThe film was inspired visually by German Expressionist films such as Metropolis (1927),[5] Nosferatu (1921) and M (1931).[2]  The morphing of the city landscape in Dark City was an idea by Proyas taken from production of his previous film, The Crow (1994). The film had a rooftop set in which smaller-scale buildings were moved around to create different backgrounds, accomplished by workers out of sight. Proyas recalled the implementation to use in Dark City. The director also included anachronisms in the film, such as a car from the 1980s driving by in the film, set in an earlier era. The city in the film was built from human memories, so the director wanted to blend together various elements to reflect the combination.[5] [edit] DVD releaseThe New Line Cinema Platinum Series contains one double-sided disc which include full-screen and wide-screen versions of the film. Other features include:
[edit] Director's CutA director's cut of Dark City was released officially on DVD and Blu-ray Disc July 29, 2008. This version includes 15 minutes of additional footage, generally consisting of extended scenes with additional establishing shots and dialogue. In addition, the following major changes have been made:[7]
[edit] Similarities to other worksThe Matrix was released one year after Dark City and was also filmed at Fox Studios in Sydney. Comparisons have been made between scenes from the movies, making note of similarities in both cinematography and atmosphere, as well as the plot.[8] Some stylistic similarities have also been noted to Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro's 1995 film The City of Lost Children.[9][10] Fritz Lang's 1927 movie Metropolis was a major influence on the film, showing through the architecture, concepts of the baseness of humans within a metropolis, and general tone.[11] In one of the Documentary shorts featured on the Director's Cut, the influence of the early German films M and Nosferatu are mentioned. The film bears strong resemblance to Frederik Pohl's acclaimed short story "The Tunnel Under the World", where an entire community is held captive by advertising researchers and have their memories of the day wiped clean every night as they sleep.[12] This thread is interwoven with similarities to other works: the random permutation of people's social identities is reminiscent of Jorge Luis Borges's short story "The Lottery in Babylon".[13] One of the last scenes of the movie, in which buildings "restore" themselves, is strikingly similar to the last panel of the Akira manga. Proyas called the end battle a "homage to Otomo's Akira".[14] [edit] SoundtrackThe soundtrack for the film was released on February 24, 1998 on the TVT label.[15] It features music from the original score by Trevor Jones, and versions of the songs "Sway" and "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" performed by singer Anita Kelsey. It also includes music by Hughes Hall from the trailer[16], as well as songs by Gary Numan, Echo & the Bunnymen, and Course of Empire that did not appear in the film. [edit] ReceptionReview aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes gives it a "fresh" rating of 77 percent based on 77 reviews. Film critic Roger Ebert cited it as the best film of 1998.[1][17] In 2005, he included it on his "Great Movies" list.[18] Ebert uses it in his teaching, and also appears on a commentary track for the DVD. The film was screened out of competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.[19] [edit] AwardsDark City won the following awards:[20]
It was also nominated for the following awards:
[edit] See also[edit] Notes
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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