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In “The Weight of Water“, journalist Jean Janes (Catherine McCormack) begins researching the 1873 axe-murder of two sisters and discovers new information in the case. Meanwhile, her marriage to writer Thomas (Sean Penn) begins to fall apart.
The show has moved into the “rotten” side of director Kathryn Bigelow‘s career and we’re here today discussing a very strange film from 2001. It feels a little bit like an erotic thriller that has been stripped of all eroticism (excluding, perhaps, Elizabeth Hurley’s penchant for sucking on things) while also trying to tell two interconnected stories that don’t seem to have much in common.
One story deals with a very odd vacation off the coast of New England: a group of friends cruises around New England waters while simultaneously giving each other elevator eyes and trying to solve a murder. Personalities are ill-defined, conflicts are hazy, and the locale is… indeterminate.
The other narrative thread travels back in time to the previously mentioned mysterious murders of some women from an immigrant family. Work ethic, religions, incest, and murder combine to create a swirling backdrop of puritanical mayhem, while odd hiring decisions make for a precursor to a mystery that will last for decades.
The whole time, some smooth jazz saxophone swaddles you in its timeless, cliche-riddled vibe.
The Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus for “The Weight of Water”: “The story is too muddled to build any interest.” It is at 35% on that site, with 65 reviews. The audience score is virtually identical, with a 38% score.
Clay and Wes discuss the low point of Kathryn Bigelow’s career and try to understand speaking in English with other people who speak your native tongue, using flashy techniques to hide the emptiness of your story, and why one would hire a laborer with crippling arthritis!
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