Undermind
Undermind
PG-13 | 13 April 2003 (USA)
Undermind Trailers

Derrick, a corporate lawyer with a large trust fund, and Zane, a criminal, live in opposite social spheres. Although they never meet, their lives are more connected than either one of them could ever imagine.

Reviews
gpadillo

Undermind is a find! Within 10 minutes of the movie I found myself alternately utterly confused and exhilarated wondering if I was smart enough to watch it. Working from his own brilliant script, first time director Nevil Dwek has created a world where parallel universes meet and violently collide. The tale revolves around young Derrick Hall, a corporate lawyer who is far too young to be this world weary and morose. A little understanding of Derrick's family history reveals a recently departed, highly successful father who had little time, patience or trust of his son and a pompous, dictatorial mother who acts as human choke collar, squelching both life and joy out of every earthly moment.In the blink of an eye, Derrick's entire world is intercepted and exchanged with that of punky, greasy locked, Zane Waye – but he "knows" he's Derrick. Suddenly, nothing makes sense and the two men must search for ways to get back to their respective lives. Each is confronted with situations demanding resourcefulness as each is forced to think outside of his normal pattern. Zane's world is a troubling, dominated by his evil (and idiotic) brother, Ian. It's a world of violence, murder, suspect alliances, drug deals, stuttering porn wannabes, prostitutes and deception.Along the way the difficult murder case of a well respected cop – who happens to be the Brothers Waye's father, is solved, Derrick and Zane find their ways home and the world is set right. The entire cast (even small supporting roles) shine throughout, but top nod easily goes to Sam Trammel who carries the movie as both Derrick and Zane, so convincingly I at times wondered if two different actors were playing the roles.Director Dwek creates two distinct worlds for our central characters: Derrick's is warm, rich full of browns and velvety textured, while Zane's is stark, black and white with hints of tinting. Eventually (and inevitably) the worlds collide and combine into one.With such a complex and confusing tale, a completely satisfying ending resolving all loose ends is nearly impossible and here is (for me) the only weak link in a movie without any others. I'm not, however, certain that a better ending could reasonably be achieved. I still give the movie high marks despite the ending (which isn't bad, just not at the level of the rest of the film) as this is one of the smartest and most entertaining things I've seen in ages.

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Ofer Bar

I saw this movie with couple of friends, after reading it was compared to Memento. Well, it is not. Actually, it's a pretty bad movie. Acting is terrible, and the script does not make sense. I really didn't understand what the hell the writer and director was trying to say here. I have a feeling he doesn't either :)The idea of parallel universes and exchanging lives has been extensively used in movies, and this movie does not bring any new message.I don't want to waste any more time ranting about it. Just to warn potential viewers to skip this one and watch something else.

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herb_wms

Very good acting and a very good script. I'd say an excellent script except for one blaring omission...What triggered the switch? And the fact we were twenty minutes into the movie before the switch occurred. The switch should have occurred at least 3 minutes earlier and needed something to trigger it. Just happening isn't really acceptable in Hollywood or Indiewood. It causes you to stop watching and enjoying and start asking "what the heck's going on here" and it's not a what the heck in a good sense but a distracting sense. The trigger could have been as simple as a more heated debate with his mother, an overdose on a psychotropic drug, (he was seeing a shrink). The absence of cause drew as much attention as the presence of a clown selling jewelry would have. It broke the moment, then it took several minutes to get back into the movie.Other than that one oopses the rest of the movie was great. The interplay between the two realities was outstanding and the message "Walk a mile in my shoes" was very potent. The Violent world was implied and did not demand on an over abundance of death and mayhem to instill a sense of danger. It worked very well. As did the limited nudity…enough but not too much.Recommended viewing.

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agentk

I saw this at the Stony Brook Film Festival on Long Island New York and was generally pleased with it. It split first place in the Jury Awards there and made a close run for Audience Choice as well.It takes two characters and basically switches them, giving each a glimpse into the possibilities of parallel existances. Derrick,a spoiled upper crust New Yorker, and Zane, a street thug, are quite opposite but somehow make the mind switch and wind up making do in each other's lives. My main problem with the film was that there was no mechanism for the switch. It was nicely filmed and nicely acted with each of the personalities being likeable and despicable in appropriate doses. The filming of the duality of parallel worlds was quite creative.

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