The
Cayman Islands are a mainstay in the movies for their scenic beauty, sporting
clean seas and idyllic beaches. From The
Cayman Triangle to The Firm starring Tom Cruise, it remains an
attractive setting and area for filmmakers channeling their visions of
paradise. Resident Cayman Islands born
filmmaker Frank E. Flowers, having recently returned from Hollywood to his
native hometown, decided to mount a film production there and with the help of
actor and leading actor Orlando Bloom wrote and directed his first feature with
the ensemble drama Haven. The
finished film is another one of those movies clearly inspired by the
interlocking stories and time-jumping narrative structure employed by Pulp
Fiction, Go and Traffic with just enough heavy-duty punishment
of the characters and audience to give it a 21 Grams flavor.
On
the Cayman Islands, our central protagonist Shy (Orlando Bloom) gets himself
into serious trouble after romancing Andrea (Zoe Saldana) against her parents
and brother Hammer’s (Anthony Mackie) wishes.
After a vengeful act disfigures the pretty boy Shy, triggering his own
vengeful path, this disparate story thread crosses paths with crooked
businessman Carl (Bill Paxton) and his daughter Pippa (Agnes Bruckner) who are
on the run from the Feds while taking refuge in the Cayman Islands. In what quickly became a time-honored tradition
with this interlocking-stories ensemble picture, as the threads intersect a web
of violence explodes through the lives of the characters, sending upheaval and
trauma through nearly all involved.
Another
one of those “tense dramas” that tries so hard to beat up the viewer it starts
feeling like a contrivance, Haven is less interested in figuring out the
meaning of the lives of these characters than merely setting them loose on the
Cayman Islands to devour each other. It
is aggravating and messy with Capital-A acting from nearly all of the
performers fishing for an Oscar. Though
it dabbles into the so-called “thug life” ala Amores Perros, seeing Orlando
Bloom trying to be tough and tormented just felt phony. Bill Paxton seems to be the only believable
performer in the piece while everyone else tries too hard to be noticed by the
Academy.
Visually,
Haven sports decent cinematography by Michael Bernard who exploits the
Cayman Islands setting beautifully but is cut together so rapidly with
sometimes frenzied camerawork that it feels less like a professional production
and more like a sophomore effort.
Outside of the cast of newcomers who would eventually hone their craft
as time went on in their respective careers, Haven though intending to
make a graceful leap off the diving board instead slips and falls before
landing headfirst belly up with a messy splash.
A shame because clearly the writer-director cares enough about his
hometown to make a film around it. Too
bad he never seemed completely sure why he or his cast and crew ventured out
there in the first place.
--Andrew Kotwicki
