Dark City is a 1998 American science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas. The film was written by Proyas, Lem Dobbs, and David S. Goyer, and stars Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, and Jennifer Connelly. While it was not a major box office success when released originally, it has subsequently developed a considerable cult fanbase among cineastes. Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert is especially fond of the film, calling it the best of 1998.[1]
Plot
John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) awakens in a hotel bathtub, suffering from what seems to be amnesia. As he stumbles into his hotel room, he receives a telephone call from Dr. Daniel Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland), who urges him to flee the hotel from a group of men called The Strangers. During the telephone conversation, John discovers the corpse of a brutalised, ritualistically murdered woman, along with a bloody knife. Murdoch flees the scene, just as the Strangers arrive at the room. Eventually he learns his real name, and finds his wife Emma (Jennifer Connelly). He is also sought by police inspector Frank Bumstead (William Hurt) for a series of murders, which he cannot remember. Murdoch moves about the city, which experiences perpetual night. He sees people become comatose at midnight, and he is pursued by The Strangers. During the chase, he discovers that he has psychokinetic powers like the Strangers, which he uses to escape from them.
Murdoch questions the dark urban environment and discovers through clues and interviews with his family that he was originally from a coastal town called Shell Beach. Attempts at finding a way out of the city to Shell Beach are hindered by lack of reliable information. Meanwhile, the Strangers, disturbed by the presence of a human who also possesses their psychokinetic powers (which they refer to as tuning) inject one of their men, Mr. Hand (Richard O'Brien) with Murdoch's lost memories, in an attempt to find Murdoch.
Constantly hiding, Murdoch witnesses the Strangers altering the city's landscape and people's identities during the still period at midnight, during which time everyone else is unconscious. Murdoch eventually meets Bumstead, who recognizes Murdoch's innocence and has his own questions about the nature of the dark city. They find and confront Dr. Schreber, who explains that the Strangers are endangered extraterrestrial parasites with a collective consciousness who are experimenting with humans to analyze the nature versus nurture concept of their human hosts in order to survive. Schreber reveals Murdoch as an anomaly who inadvertently awoke during the midnight process with the ability to "tune".
The three men embark to find Shell Beach, which ultimately exists only as a billboard at the edge of the city. Frustrated, Murdoch tears through the wall, revealing a hole into outer space. The men are confronted by the Strangers, including Mr. Hand, who holds Emma hostage. In the ensuing fight, Bumstead, along with one of the Strangers, falls through the hole into space, revealing the city as an enormous space habitat surrounded by a force field.
The Strangers bring Murdoch to their home beneath the city and force Dr. Schreber to imprint Murdoch with their collective memory, believing Murdoch to be the final answer to their experiments. Schreber, having worked for the Strangers, betrays them instead by inserting false memories in Murdoch that use his memories and therefore the time of his entire life to train his tuning abilities. Murdoch awakens, fully realizing his abilities, frees himself and battles with the Strangers, defeating their commander Mr. Book (Ian Richardson) in a battle high above the city. Utilizing his newfound powers, Murdoch begins reshaping the city, returning the sun, flooding the areas surrounding the city with water and forming mountains and beaches, creating the actual Shell Beach.
The Strangers who survived Mr. Book's death retreat from the sunlight to die underground. On his way to Shell Beach, Murdoch encounters Mr. Hand and informs him that the Strangers have been searching in the wrong place, the head, to understand humanity. Murdoch opens the door leading out of the city, and steps into sunlight for the first time. Beyond him is a dock, where he finds Emma, now with new memories and a new identity as Anna, with no recollection of Murdoch. They reintroduce and walk to Shell Beach, beginning their relationship anew.
Production
Director Alex Proyas wrote Dark City during 1990 and had the project associated initially with Walt Disney Pictures and then 20th Century Fox. The studios reneged on their agreements with Proyas due to their issues with the complexity of the story. New Line Cinema eventually accepted the project for production.[2] Before the final title of Dark City, the film had the working titles of Dark Empire and Dark World.[3] The film begins with a voice-over narration that reveals several major plot twists, which Proyas says was studio-imposed and "unnecessary".[4]
Writing
Director Alex Proyas first wrote the story of Dark City during 1991 as a detective story. The protagonist was a detective investigating a case that did not make logical sense, driving him insane as the evidence pointed to a larger, incomprehensible scheme. The detective was originally pursuing Murdoch, but Proyas considered the detective's perspective too analytical and changed it to the perspective of the man being chased for a more emotive perspective. The original plot was changed to the story of Eddie Walenski in the film, played by Colin Friels. Proyas was also inspired by science fiction stories of simulated reality that he read during his childhood. The director considered the result to be a Raymond Chandler story with a science fiction twist.[5]
The original ending for Dark City was bleak, with the Strangers claiming victory. Proyas, not liking the ending, decided to alter it to focus on the "individual's triumph" in an environment where individuality was being suppressed.[5]
Casting
Director Alex Proyas saw actor Rufus Sewell in several English television productions and a London stage show, and decided to cast the actor in the lead role of Dark City.[5]
Proyas cited actor Richard O'Brien, who portrays the Stranger Mr. Hand in Dark City, as the inspiration for the design of the Strangers themselves. Proyas was familiar with the actor's previous work and had discussions with O'Brien and other actors including Ian Richardson and David Wenham, who portrayed the Strangers to emulate O'Brien's presentation.[5]
The character Dr. Daniel P. Schreber was imagined originally by Proyas to be an older man. During the casting process, Proyas decided to have the doctor portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland, who the director believed would seem more motivated to escape from the Strangers if he were young and still had potential.[5]
Filming
Filming took place in Sydney, Australia.[5] Dark City has one of the shortest average shot lengths of a modern film; a film cut occurs in the film, on average, every 1.8 seconds.[6]
Design
The film was inspired visually by German Expressionist films such as Metropolis (1927),[5] Nosferatu (1921) and M (1931).[2]
A new building sprouts through the city
The morphing of the city landscape in Dark City was an idea by Proyas taken from production of his previous film, The Crow (1994). The film had a rooftop set in which smaller-scale buildings were moved around to create different backgrounds, accomplished by workers out of sight. Proyas recalled the implementation to use in Dark City. The director also included anachronisms in the film, such as a car from the 1980s driving by in the film, set in an earlier era. The city in the film was built from human memories, so the director wanted to blend together various elements to reflect the combination.[5]
DVD Release
The New Line Cinema Platinum Series contains one double-sided disc which include full-screen and wide-screen versions of the film. Other features include:
- Commentary one by Film critic Roger Ebert.
- Commentary two by director, writers, director of photography, and production designer.
- Cast and crew biographies and filmographies
- Comparison to Fritz Lang's Metropolis
- Theatrical trailer
- Set designs
Director's Cut
A director's cut of Dark City was released officially on DVD and Blu-ray Disc July 29, 2008. This version includes 15 minutes of additional footage, generally consisting of extended scenes with additional establishing shots and dialogue. In addition, the following major changes have been made:[7]
- The opening sequence no longer contains Dr. Schreber's voiceover monologue nor does it include the sequence of the city becoming asleep. Both have been moved to other parts of the movie, thus more strongly intensifying the mysteries of Dark City at the start of the film.
- The visual effects displaying John's tuning abilities (up until his final confrontation with Mr. Book) are more subtle, implying that they have yet to mature.
- Jennifer Connelly's actual vocals are used when Emma sings, rather than Anita Kelsey's.
- The sequence with the crumbling city has some enhanced visual effects (beams of light, smoke trails).
- New subplots:
- John's fingerprint features a spiral similar to those painted on the murder victims.
- May has a daughter who, when seen by Murdoch, causes him to flee. May's daughter witnesses her mother's murder by the Strangers and draws a picture of it while hiding under her bed. Bumstead sees the picture and realizes that Murdoch was not the killer.
- Various small additions more strongly suggest that Bumstead himself realizes there is something wrong with the world, which explains why he eventually decides to help Murdoch find the truth.
Similarities to other works
The Matrix was released one year after Dark City and was also filmed at Fox Studios in Sydney. Comparisons have been made between scenes from the movies, making note of similarities in both cinematography and atmosphere, as well as the plot.[8] Some stylistic similarities have also been noted to Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro's 1995 film The City of Lost Children.[9][10]
Fritz Lang's 1927 movie Metropolis was a major influence on the film, showing through the architecture, concepts of the baseness of humans within a metropolis, and general tone.[11] In one of the Documentary shorts featured on the Director's Cut, the influence of the early German films M and Nosferatu are mentioned.
The film bears strong resemblance to Frederik Pohl's acclaimed short story "The Tunnel Under the World", where an entire community is held captive by advertising researchers and have their memories of the day wiped clean every night as they sleep.[12] This thread is interwoven with similarities to other works: the random permutation of people's social identities is reminiscent of Jorge Luis Borges's short story "The Lottery in Babylon".[13]
One of the last scenes of the movie, in which buildings "restore" themselves, is strikingly similar to the last panel of the Akira manga. Proyas called the end battle a "homage to Otomo's Akira".[14]
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for the film was released on February 24, 1998 on the TVT label.[15] It features music from the original score by Trevor Jones, and versions of the songs "Sway" and "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" performed by singer Anita Kelsey. It also includes music by Hughes Hall from the trailer[16], as well as songs by Gary Numan, Echo & the Bunnymen, and Course of Empire that did not appear in the film.
Reception
Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes gives it a "fresh" rating of 77 percent based on 77 reviews. Film critic Roger Ebert cited it as the best film of 1998.[1][17] In 2005, he included it on his "Great Movies" list.[18] Ebert uses it in his teaching, and also appears on a commentary track for the DVD.
The film was screened out of competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.[19]
Awards
Dark City won the following awards:[20]
It was also nominated for the following awards:
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Ebert, Roger (February 27, 1998). "Dark City". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19980227/REVIEWS/802270304/1023. Retrieved July 28, 2009.
- ^ a b Don Kornits (June 2, 1999). "Alex Proyas — Director, Dark City". eFilmCritic. http://efilmcritic.com/feature.php?feature=54. Retrieved July 6, 2007.
- ^ "Dark City". Entertainment Weekly. February 20, 1998.
- ^ Stratton, Jerry. FireBlade DVD Review: Dark City. 1999-09-21.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Blackwelder, Rob (February 13, 1998). "VISIONS OF 'STRANGERS' DANCE IN HIS HEAD". splicedonline.com (SPLICEDwire). http://www.splicedonline.com/features/proyas.html. Retrieved July 6, 2007.
- ^ Bordwell, David (Spring 2002). "Intensified Continuity: Visual Style in Contemporary American Film". Film Quarterly 55 (3): p. 17.
- ^ Director's Cut Fact Track. (2008). Dark City: Director's Cut. [Blu-ray Disc]. New Line Cinema.
- ^ Morales, Jorge. Comparación de los Filmes "Dark City" & "The Matrix". Retrieved December 24, 2005 (Spanish)
- ^ Carpenter, Jerry. "The City of Lost Children" (review). Movie Reviews. SciFilm.org. http://www.scifilm.org/reviews/citylostchild.html. Retrieved 2007-11-07. "The production design by Jean Rabasse is marvelous. The city is dark and damp, all stairs and walkways. It clearly served as inspiration for DARK CITY three years later—- one scene even features sharply inclined risers filled with members of the cyclops cult just like those used by the cenobites in the later film."
- ^ Mestas, Alex (2003-03-03). "The City of Lost Children (1995)" (review). DVD Reviews. LightsOutFilms.com. http://www.lightsoutfilms.com/dvd_cityoflostchildren.html. Retrieved 2007-11-07. "The film is similar in theme and execution to the slightly better Dark City."
- ^ "The Metropolis Comparison". Dark City DVD (1998).
- ^ Hesselthwite, Edwin. Bakelite and Uranium Monday: The Tunnel Under The World By Frederick Pohl. 2008-01-07
- ^ Leeper, Evelyn C. (2005-09-09). "Jorge Luis Borges's "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" (and other stories)". The MT Void. Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4824/tlon.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-07. ""The Babylonian Lottery" [...] is clearly commenting on the arbitrariness and irrationality of the political systems that Borge was seeing at the time [...] But when I read it now, the image it brings to my mind is that of the transition scene in the film Dark City, where the poor become rich, and the rich lose their status. Could this be a reference to Borges?"
- ^ Proyas, Alex. Dark City DC: Original Ending !?, Mystery Clock Forum. 2006-07-29.
- ^ Fawthrop, Peter. "Dark City (Original Soundtrack)". Allmusic. Retrieved March 4, 2006.
- ^ Dark City trailer (QuickTime). Retrieved 2007-05-04.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "The Best 10 Movies of 1998". Chicago Sun-Times. 1998-12-31
- ^ Ebert, Roger. Great Movies: Dark City (2005). 2005-11-06.
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Dark City". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/4899/year/1998.html. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
- ^ IMDb: Awards for Dark City (1998). Retrieved 2007-05-06.
References
External links
