“Apricots are for faggots.”
What’s it all about? Nine survivors of a nuclear attack wait to be rescued from the basement of their apartment where the building’s superintendent, Mickey (Michael Biehn), lives. THE DIVIDE also stars Lauren German as Eva and Milo Ventimiglia as Josh.
Though well shot, tense and featuring capable performances, THE DIVIDE fails to live up to its potential due to the film’s neglect of its characters. Like most character-driven post-apocalyptic science fiction, THE DIVIDE pushes the idea that, under the right circumstances, anyone and everyone will become insane, have unpleasant, bloody sex and start killing their best friends. Though these aspects are par for the course, THE DIVIDE is a very difficult film to watch, not because of the content, but because none of the characters are an ounce likable, and you don’t mind terribly when they get killed or start killing others.
Let’s explain — Mickey (Biehn) is a liar and possibly sadistic. Josh (Ventimiglia) has made self-preservation into an art form. Sam (Iván González) is non-confrontational to a fault. Bobby (Eklund) is a psychopath from the get-go. Marilyn (Rosanna Arquette) has a mental collapse within the film’s first fifteen minutes after her daughter is taken from her. It’s hard to find someone relatable. There are, however, three characters in the film who are presented in a better light than the others: Delvin (Courtney B. Vance), Adrien (Ashton Holmes) and Eva (Lauren German). Unfortunately, one of them is killed off quite early in an eye-roll-worthy nod to convention, and the other two walk through THE DIVIDE doing little else but watch the villains complacently — and they’re supposed to be the “heroes”!
Lauren German’s character is an empty shell of a protagonist and any small victories on her part within THE DIVIDE are never shared by the audience. It’s difficult to care about anyone, even the character for whom you’re supposed to cheer on. The one character that had promise for creating both an emotional link to the audience as well as conflict within the narrative was Adrien. He is the half-brother of Josh, love interest for Eva — who is in an established relationship with another survivor, Sam — and the object of jealousy for Josh’s friend Bobby. Unfortunately, the director doesn’t follow-through on any of these potential plot developments, and the script is much poorer for it.
THE DIVIDE sets up numerous interesting relationships and conflicts that are never fully addressed. Instead of focusing on the jealousies, suspicions and tested loyalties that are introduced early in the script, director Xavier Gens chose to laze about in featureless immorality. Within this malaise, however, Gens provided the opportunity for Milo Ventimiglia to break out of his more clean-cut “bad boy” roots (GILMORE GIRLS, HEROES). Though he is not the protagonist and has third billing after Michael Biehn — forgotten and tied up for most of the movie — and Lauren German, Ventimiglia is really the star of THE DIVIDE. If you see THE DIVIDE, it should really just be to see Ventimiglia’s degradation of morality (and loss of hair).
Toronto After Dark Film Festival runs from October 20-27, featuring gala parties, nightly pub social events, Q&A’s with filmmakers and a zombie appreciation night with reduced tickets for the undead. For complete festival and film info including trailers and advanced tickets, visit www.torontoafterdark.com.
Notes: Directed by Xavier Gens; Produced by Ross M. Dinerstein, Juliette Hagopian, Darryn Welch; Written by Karl Mueller, Eron Sheean; Starring Michael Biehn, Lauren German, Milo Ventimiglia, Ashton Holmes, Peter Stormare, Rosanna Arquette, Courtney B. Vance, Michael Eklund; Cinematography by Laurent Barès; Editing by Carlo Rizzo.
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I was actually pretty impressed with Ventimiglia, who’s good-looking but never seemed like a very dynamic actor, so yeah I’d agree that’s basically the best thing to see this movie for.
Also I know I didn’t even mention the black guy dying first in my review because it’s such a stupid thing that still happens so fucking often, I can’t even comment on it anymore. “Eye-roll-worthy nod to convention”- NICE.
I feel compelled to bring up the black guy dying first thing all the time. It’s so fucking stupid — especially in films that are being released in 2011.