Not Really There?

This will be a short-changing of two reviews--please forgive me for short-changing you by combining two reviews, and please forgive me for doing so in a brief post. I am entertaining and being entertained in Colorado until Sunday, when I will be returning to Ann Arbor.

Though "Shutter Island" and "Coraline" may seem miles apart in nature, subject, and target audience, the common theme of the mind's ability to create and the backfiring of alternative realities courses through both films. Not to mention that both movies have their fair share of terrifying moments.

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are dead-on, as per usual. And given the presence of such cinematic Goliaths, Mark Ruffalo fills out the supporting side-kick with aplomb. The film recalled my nostalgia for a one-credit-college course I took called "The History of American Psychiatry in Film." If I could remember some of the psychiatric and psychological terms discussed in that course, I would certainly be able to discuss intricacies of story and character development far better.

A few days after viewing DiCaprio's Teddy Daniels struggle to uncover the mysteries surrounding a missing and reappearing patient on an island mental hospital for the criminally insane, my mom pointed out how effectively and painfully Scorsese paralleled the torture perpetrated during the Holocaust with early psychiatric techniques and experiments. These undertones and flashbacks definitely encourage a sense of discomfort and slight agony while watching; these emotions facilitate the few moments that make a woman a few rows back yelp in fear.

Ultimately, the greatest fear from "Shutter Island" comes with the movie's unresolved moral: the mind is a powerful force that can operate counter to social homeostasis and can disrupt the internal milieu.

This is not the horror conveyed in "Coraline," Henry "Pal o' Burton" Selick's Oscar nominated claymation "children's movie." I say "children's movie" because this PG movie was one of the scarier nail-biters that I have seen in some time. I would argue "Coraline" upset me more than "Shutter Island" whilst watching, though "Shutter," as mentioned before, had a more lasting terror.

Embattled with isolation and parents who care more about their magazine than their only kid, Coraline Jones discovers an alternative world with an "Other Mother" who wants to keep her forever to love her forever and possibly, just maybe, eat her soul. Sounds like a great movie to show kids. Great messages about familial love and finding refuge in your dreams.

And though the movie has haunting elements, "Coraline" retains the color, imagery, and dream-like fantasy that permeates childhood perception. The cooky neighbors and talking cat are pure kiddy--albeit "A Nightmare Before Christmas" kiddy. Ian McShane (a.k.a. Al Swearengen) and John Hodgman bring craft and humor to their respective voiceovers.

Still, "Coraline" had me furrowing my eyebrows in concern. Scary.

I recommend both, though neither for young audiences.

"Shutter Island": Three out of five stars
"Coraline": Two.5 out of five stars