I wanted to see this film in the theater, and I wish I had. It would have been worth the money. I say this because it was something of a surprise. The previews made me expect something, I don’t know, louder. Bigger. Instead what I got was stranger than I had been led to think this movie was.

The previews tell you it’s a ghost story, but this is not quite right.

The main character is a boy named Nick Powell, who lives alone with his mother, now that his father is dead. These are things set in stone from the beginning of the film, that he is a rich kid, very smart, and lonely. He seems to have one close friend in his life, Pete, and a desire to go to London for college. He wants to be a writer. His mother does not agree, and apparently what she says is law.

The movie starts with a strange dream, an impersonal birthday or grad party. Nick is going through the motions because his mother expects him to, then he walks away while she’s still talking, and goes to his cake. It has his portrait on it. With the server, he calmly cuts out the eyes. This is a hint of things to come.

Rating:

Staring: Justin Chatwin, Margarita Levieva

Directed by: David S. Goyer

Written by: Mick Davis, Christine Roum - adapted from the novel “Den Osynlige” by Mats Wahl

At first, Nick seemed to be a bit of a goody-two-shoes, and disingenuous, as well as one dimensional. Then they show the way he responded after Pete has a run in with the school bully, a hard faced girl named Annie Newton. She is after Pete for money. He bought a stolen cell phone from her because he can’t afford one any other way. Now she wants the rest of the money. She cut him, and Nick sees the results. He goes up to her in the cafeteria and drops money on the table in front of her, a fairly large amount of cash. He asks her of it’s enough, and she simply stares at him. That is when the first real surprise comes. He does not hurl threats or insults at her, he simply leans in close and tells her she’s broken.

Three words, and the character is suddenly interesting. There is a lot more going on behind that calm young face. It was hinted at by the dream, but confirmed with his choice of action.

Annie is a puzzle, angry bitter, cold. She has an older boyfriend who’s an ex-con, and she is on a downward spiral, spinning out of control. When we see her in her own home, we start to understand why. A stepmother who could care less about her little brother, and her father who won’t defend them. A mother who left the behind. She hates how hard she has to fight just to make sure her brother is being taken care of. It falls to her. Her anger is her way of trying to deal with all the pain,.

This could have been a bad movie. It could have been over the top supernatural. I will tell readers this right now, if you are a special effects junkie, then this is not a movie for you. Despite the supernatural overtones, there are no special effects. Everything is done with angle, lighting, sound, image. It is a truly beautiful piece of film making. It has some of the most profound visual metaphors I have run across in a long time. It is filmed in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle in fact, and takes advantage of the spectacular scenery.

The actors are well placed in their roles, and you see each one of them for what they are. The creative boy who wants his mother to see that he needs to live his own life. The beautiful girl who hides behind her bitterness, and hurts everyone within reach. The hurting mother who has shut out the one person who could understand what she’s going through after the death of her husband. The weak best friend, who stands in awe of his larger than life hero, and founders with unspoken jealousy. Each of these people is real, believable. We know them, they are human, not parodies.