neumu [ cinematronic ]




	The Mothman Prophecies
	Mark Pellington Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Will Patton, Debra Messing 2002		Forgettable B movie about supernatural occurrences that bedevil a Washington Post reporter played to a chilly standstill by Richard Gere. Director Mark Pellington goes for dark mood, suffocating atmosphere and otherworldly dreaminess that reflect the work of distinctive filmmaker/provocateur David Lynch ("Lost Highway," "Mulholland Drive"). Despite the flashy cuts, fancy effects and elaborate climax, this amounts to very little. It's based on historical events that took place in a West Virginia town in the early '60s, although it's updated to contemporary times. Since it's about strange, unexplained incidents having to do with precognition and disasters, it doesn't worry about filling all the plot holes that it digs. It simply sends Gere's journalist into a Twilight Zone where he unconsciously drives hundreds of miles in an hour, meets a troubled man (Will Patton) who swears that they've met before, and hooks up with a foxy rural cop dully played by the normally sharp Laura Linney.