03 Nov NOIRVEMBER: DARK CITY

DARK CITY

dir. Alex Proyas, starring Rufus Sewell, Jennifer Connelly, and Kiefer Sutherland

A protagonist who doesn’t know who he really is. A mysterious individual who promises answers. Antagonists lurking the shadows, dressing in black, and reshaping reality as they see fit. A world whose reality is masked in a collection of eras. A love story that pits destiny against choice. What film do you think of? For more audiences of a certain age, the Wachowski’s genre-destroying The Matrix (1999) immediately comes to mind as identity-confused Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) meets Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss) and rebel leader Morpheus (Laurence Fishburn) before learning how to defeat the mysterious Agents who keep them locked in a digital prison. Thing is, roughly a year before audience answered the question “What is the Matrix?,” a different tale hit theaters, directed by Alex Proyas (The Crow), that posited many of the same questions in a very different format. This film, Dark City, is often forgotten when fantasy noirs of the late 1990s are discussed due to the cultural impact of the The Matrix on so many (this writer included). Shame of it is that, even 24 years later, Proyas’s Dark City is just as fascinating a watch as it was in its original run.

Waking naked and confused in a bathtub, a man (Rufus Sewell) gets himself dressed, only to discover a murdered woman upon his floor. Scared, the man leaves, trying to follow any clue that will bring him closer to the truth of his identity. Doing so will cause him to cross paths with Emma (Jennifer Connelly), a woman claiming to be his wife, Dr. Daniel Schreber (Keifer Sutherland), a man claiming to be his physician, and Inspector Frank Bumstead (William Hurt), an officer in search of a serial killer. But as he begins to notice other inconsistencies in the very fabric of reality itself, he starts to wonder if he can trust any of them if he can’t trust himself.

As the film is so long released, there will be no avoidance of spoilers in this review. So if you’re not familiar with Dark City, please do go check it out and then return. Additionally, what follows is based upon a viewing of the Director’s Cut.

First and foremost, the reason for the Director’s Cut (D.C.) is because it is the confirmed version that Proyas prefers. This isn’t always the case with D.C. edition as sometimes that subtitle gets slapped onto releases when the director has had no input. Here, the D.C. represents what Proyas envisioned regarding some special effects elements, as well as removes the opening narration from Dr. Schreber that explains the film before it starts. Audiences are smarter than studios often think and a film like Dark City isn’t so wild as to presume audiences who are paying attention can’t follow it. To paraphrase The Snowman (2017) meme, the script from Proyas, Lem Dobbs (The Limey), and David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight) gives you all the clues. Not only that, but it doles them out piece by piece so that the film shifts smoothly from standard detective story to where it ends up, an exploration of the soul of humanity via alien abduction and manipulation. Impressively, Dark City doesn’t waste any time getting to the reveal that there are people manipulating the city and its inhabitants, showing the city reshaping itself, the Strangers (as they are come to be known) going to people’s homes and transforming everything. We
don’t know yet why or how they’re doing it. The audience only knows that not only is there an identity crisis story and a murder story, but a fantasy element at play, signaling that not everything is as it seems, and everything can change at any time.

This is only one part of the appeal of Dark City. The cinematography from Dariusz Wolski (The Crow; Crimson Tide) is astonishingly gorgeous, using as much natural light from each set as possible in order to give the film its specific look. Like his prior work with Proyas, Dark City always feels grounded, even when buildings are rising up in the skyline where none existed before or entire homes are transforming from dingey apartments to magnificent mansions. This is, of course, partially due to George Liddle’s (Daybreakers) and Patrick Tatopoulos’s (Independence Day) production design which was specifically engineered to be as malleable as possible so that, on-screen, objects would look real even in their potentially impossibility. The cinematography merely brought out their vividness, even if just in their dark blacks, deep greens, or lush reds. Despite the perpetual darkness brought on by the Strangers (who hate the sun), there is beauty and warmth, a sense of life persisting, unwilling to be dominated or snuffed out so easily. This is one of many technical elements which, in conjunction with other choices, weave into a complex and rich world.

Personally, though a small thing, I love that the film, and by extension the city itself, is called Dark City. It sounds ominous when one says it, a place bereft of light and, possibly, hope, yet it’s nothing more than a simple statement of fact. The city is dark due to the absence of sun. Take a quick look at the subway map Sewell’s reluctant hero John Murdoch uses and it includes similarly marked locations that bear no real significance other than what they are: North Point, East Point. The express train needed to get to Shell Beach? It never stops because it’s the express. There’s a literal sense about this world that speaks to who created it and the absolute absence of creativity, individuality, and inventiveness within the Strangers. Conversely, Sewell’s John, upon gaining full understanding and control of his own Stranger-like abilities, wields them with flourishes that are more than brunt force. My favorite moment being when, having undergone the memory replacement procedure that gives him a lifetime of training in mere seconds, the camera goes from an extreme close-up to a wide in tandem with John using his power to right himself to a standing position before melting the device that holds him, all presented in one fluid motion. It is such a badass image that not only stokes the excitement within the audience but demonstrates how John’s humanity gives him the kind of three-dimensional thinking that exceeds what the Strangers are capable of.

Of course, it’s easy to overlook that the Strangers themselves are dying and are merely seeking a means of preserving themselves via the manipulation of people they’ve kidnapped. They are most certainly the villains of the story, having robbed these people of their identities over and again, violating their bodily autonomy in life and animating their corpses in death to serve as corporeal vessels. And yet, there’s some sadness to the tale within them. It’s not explored deeply nor does the film have any character defend their actions, but I often think of the Strangers as not too dissimilar from Bram Stoker’s version of Dracula who only sought to preserve his species by creating more vampires. Like any other animal who might cross paths with a human, Dracula only intended to keep himself and his people alive (note that the novel is never presented from his perspective only the other humans). Likewise, with the exception of a few moments from Mr. Hand (portrayed by the excellently casted Richard O’Brien), the audience is given little to go one as to how the Strangers feel regarding their upcoming extinction. Unlike The Matrix, whose original trilogy functions in a binary of good and evil, Dark City does allow for a sense of complexity in its narrative regarding its antagonists to the point that there is a feeling created within the audience that, while their approach is horrific, their motives are not so malignant.

Before formally closing out this review, one tidbit worth noting is that Proyas got the idea for a city that changes at-will by watching his team move sets around during the making of The Crow and some of the sets were sold to the Matrix team upon conclusion. Considering my love of both of those films, having that in mind while watching Dark City, one can recognize the connection tissue that exists between them.

Though Dark City lacks the traditional hallmarks of a noir (there’s no femme fatale, there’s no nihilistic view of life, there’s no betrayal, and the mystery doesn’t center on a detective, though one is very present in the narrative), there’s no denying how the film fits within the genre. Everything about it is a question regarding morality and identity. It is nothing more than a constant search for answers where each resolution only results in another question. Even the end of the film, satisfying and hopeful as it is, the sun finally coming out and Shell Beach finally reached, the characters themselves still remain lost in space, floating in a city constructed from aliens, who knows how far from their original home. They are at the mercy of an unforgiving void with the only hope coming from Murdoch’s Stranger-like abilities. Despite the lack of answers, Proyas delivers a tale worthy of exploration and remembrance.

Review by Douglas Davidson. For more from Douglas, check out Elements of Madness here: Elements of Madness – Cinematic Reviews, Recommendations, and More