Deep Water

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

Deep Water follows a wealthy husband and his adulterous wife negotiating their morally complex marriage. When Melinda's sexual partners start disappearing mysteriously, the suspicion falls on her husband, Vic. I love how swiftly and abruptly the film managed to capture Vic's sudden outbhursts, and not just in relation to the murders. Vic is a man who is frayed and has compromised all of his trust, engaging in the darkest of acts in order to maintain a degree of possession over his marriage. It's a very warped motive but in those intense volatile scenes it will have your entire attention. I think seeing how the film reconciles both Melinda and Vic as volatile individuals who are deeply destructive to one another is fascinating. Marco Beltrami really achieved quite the feat with the score for the film, creating some palpable moments of tension. I thought the soundtrack worked really well with the upscale drunken adult party settings too, plus Grace Jenkins singing along to Leo Sayer's 'You Make Me Feel Like Dancing' is exceedingly cute.

 

Ana de Armas, who played Melinda, is far from her recent string of great roles here but she confidently owns the part; de Armas is constantly an alluring and disarming figure who wields a great deal of power over and around Affleck. Tracy Letts, who played Don Wilson, was both quite an interesting performance and quite a comedic one; I loved that this paranoid writer role was one of the few to really piece together the truth behind Vic's secret. Grace Jenkins, who played Trixie, gives one of the best child actor performances I've seen in a while; she is this chaotic whirlwind of energy that sees right through the messy drama her parents are going through in her own way. Brendan Miller, who played Joel Dash, is the only one of de Armas' on-screen lovers that I found interesting; the way Miller segues from a non-chalant figure to one who is quite outwardly fearful of Affleck's character is brilliantly done.

 

However, the best performance came from Ben Affleck, who played Vic. The film is mostly viewed through Vic's eyes which means every subtle emotional reaction and response we feel needs to stem from this man. Affleck is very deft at convincing you Vic is a laidback figure who enjoys the casual nature of his and his wife's relationship. You begin the feature wanting to like Vic; he's extremely caring for his daughter and he takes care of his often drunken wife. But as the feature progresses you see the mild-mannered mask chip away. Vic begins threatening his wife's lovers in an aloof yet intense manner, he also begins having open aggressive outburst about his wife's behaviour behind closed doors. There's one scene in which Affleck hisses "I love you" mid-argument with de Armas that left me absolutely speechless, it was probably their best scene together in the film. Watching Affleck begin to embrace the cold confidence and manipulative manner of his wife in such a dark and horrific way was a wonderful fall from grace. This is a firm reminder that while Affleck has made a brief recent foray into superhero features, he has a real strength in the thriller/drama scene.

 

The thing about films like Deep Water is that they live and die on how gripping the twists and turns are, the audience needs to be left guessing even to some degree. But the issue here is that the film practically tells us right from the beginning what type of person Vic is and then proceeds to show him engaging in very predictable actions throughout every act of the film. Frankly having Vic quietly threaten a man in the first fifteen minutes of runtime after such an easy-going temperament leaves not a single audience member guessing. The film then proceeds to showcase his murders, moment after moment without a hint of suspense. The entire narrative is just a snapshot of a jealous husband steadily descending into the realm of a killer. The other issue here is that Vic and Melinda aren't extremely relateable figures, their peculiar and fraught upper class marriage appeals to quite a niche group of people. I don't know who this film is for, there are many moments where it doesn't seem to know itself. I found it amusing that the promotion for this feature alludes so heavily to Affleck's work on Gone Girl, a film founded on intrigue whereas this feature has none. I thought the use of erotic sex scenes to sell the viewer achieved little, if anything having Melinda use sex as a weapon against her husband felt like writing from decades ago. Adrian Lyne's direction clearly leaves a lot to be desired and this was no more evident than in his visual layout for the film. The number of repetitive close ups we had of Affleck brooding over his wife from a distance got pretty old quick, I also couldn't quite comprehend some of the strange zooms and sudden tracking shots peppered throughout the entire piece. The editing for the film was a sluggish pace and begged for more to have been left on the cutting room floor. 

Dash Mihok, Lil Rel Howery and Devyn A. Tyler, who played Jonas Fernandez, Grant and Mary Washington respectively, are wildly unnecessary and forgettable as Affleck's main cadre of friends; I especially found Howery to be out of place in his usual comedic relief position. Kristen Connolly, who played Kelly Wilson, is very poorly placed throughout the film; Connolly plays to being outraged at her husband in a very immediate and over the top way without ever sharing a scrap of chemistry with Letts. Finn Wittrock, who played Tony Cameron, barely feels like a role in this movie; I know the man was meant to be the last lover for de Armas' role but aside from empty charisma and a winning smile I don't know what he brought to this film.

 

Despite a stalwart leading performance from Ben Affleck, I couldn't help but feel this film never a surprising story to tell. I would give Deep Water a 4/10.