THE FOURTH KIND
US, 2009, 95 minutes, Colour.
Milla Jovovich, Will Patton, Hakeem Kae- Kazim, Corey Johnson, Enzo Cilenti, Elias Koteas, Eric Loren, Mia Mc Kenna- Bruce, Raffael Coleman.
Directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi.
Do you believe in UFOs? Do you believe in alien abductions? – which are the closest encounters, of the fourth kind.
This is one of those serious-faced melodramas that try to pass themselves off as true, authentic and documented to a little-suspecting public. The star, Mila Jovovich, even comes on screen at the beginning to explain that she is acting the role of a psychologist, Abigail Emily Tyler, who really experienced what we are about to see re-enacted. We the see the 'actual' video footage of the 'real' Dr Tyler and this is inserted all through the film, tapes of her and of her therapy sessions, and some audio tapes, where disturbed clients reveal how they can't sleep,how they see mysterious owls inside and outside their room. Sometimes the two versions are presented simultaneously on split screen. The clients ultimately collapse mentally because of their experiences of the aliens (whom we do not see at all).
All kinds of disclaimer devices are used to indicate how authentic the film is. Names are deleted to protect privacy. Professionals and the sheriff are given aliases for anonymity. And, at the end, when Mila Jovovich comes on screen again, details of the fate of the characters are listed – and we are told that many of them, including the observing psychologist (Elias Koteas), Abby's estranged son, Ronnie, and the sheriff (Will Patton), would not contribute to the film.
If one wasn't used to this kind of film (Blair Witch, Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity), one might go for it as real.
So, sit back, relax (well, no, that is not the right word for some of the jolts and shocks) and just join in the melodramatic speculation of what could (?) happen.
It is all very earnestly done but provides very bad PR activity for potential alien visitors to earth (always, it seems, to the US, the favoured port of call for aliens – at least in the movies). The writer-director, Olatunde Osunsanmi, appears, in fact, as the interviewer of the fake 'real' Dr Tyler!
1.Audience interest in aliens? UFOs? The hostility of aliens, abductions?
2.The tradition of abduction stories, the range of films illustrating this? The Roswell tradition?
3.The devices used for making this story seem authentic? Milla Jovovich appearing as herself, introducing the film, explaining her performance, the actual characters? The information about facts, the audio and video tapes, their being used, drawing on archives? The split screen with the re-enacted interviews and the ‘real’ interviews? The interviewers? The information at the end of the film about the characters – and the director-writer himself appearing as an interviewer? The various voices, the UFOs, the FBI visits?
4.The choice of Nome, Alaska for the location? Isolated, no roads in, flying in? The work of the psychologist, ordinary people, the sheriff, the police? A credible location for this kind of story?
5.The visual style, the handheld camera, home movie aspects, the recorded interviews? The static interference in the interviews? The sounds? The non-appearance of the aliens – and audience imagination?
6.The introduction to Abigail Emily Tyler, the interviews with her in 2002, Doctor Campos and his therapy for her? The insertion of the actual Doctor Tyler and the interviews? The memories, Chapman University, therapy, the death of Doctor Tyler’s husband, her sense of a presence in the house, his being stabbed? The irony of the truth and his killing himself with the gun? The various interviews and videos?
7.Milla Jovovich acting as Doctor Tyler, her relationship with her husband, explaining to Doctor Campos what happened when he was killed? The sense of a presence in the house, his death? Her being in Anchorage, flying to Nome, her secretary, the various appointments? The interviews with Scott, Tommy, the collage of interviews with the other people – and their discussions about the owl, outside the house, inside the house? Going home, her daughter being blind because of the trauma of the death of her father, Ronnie and his criticisms of his mother, saying she could help others but not herself, the arguments, the tension and blame?
8.Doctor Campos, his help, the interviews and therapy with Abigail? His arrival in Nome, observing the interviews with Scott and Tommy, testifying, the discussions with the sheriff, his own views?
9.The sheriff, tough, his attitude towards the death of Doctor Tyler’s husband, his reaction to Tommy holding his wife and children and siege, interviewing Doctor Tyler, attacking her, his comments about Scott’s injuries during the session? Wanting to arrest Doctor Tyler, her appeal, the children, Doctor Campos coming? The house under surveillance? Ryan and his being filmed, static? Ashley and her disappearance? Campos and his continued help?
10.Abbey, the hypnosis for herself, the effect? Hypnotising others, Scott and Tommy and their explanations? The experience of fear, the owl, saying the owl had disappeared, the language about the aliens? Scott and his concern after Tommy’s death, bringing his wife, their agreeing to the interviews? The contortion as he awoke out of his hypnosis?
11.The surveillance of the house, Ryan, the static, Ashley and her disappearance?
12.The real Abbey, the interviews, her desperation about her daughter, believing she would find her, her continued illness and relocation from Alaska?
13.Ronnie and his continued alienation because of the death of his father and the behaviour of his mother?
14.The final information, the characters who cooperated or not with the film? The writer-director and his acting as the interviewer of Doctor Tyler? Milla Jovovich at the end, the challenge to the audience and its beliefs – or not?
