Thursday, February 28, 2013

100 Movies That Make Me Love Film: 49. The Invisible


49. The Invisible

SPOILERS FOR A MOVIE MOST OF YOU PROBABLY HAVEN’T SEEN... JUST A HEADS

For some reason people hate this movie. In a way I don’t blame them, the advertising for this movie really fucked things up. They advertised it as something COMPLETELY different than what the film actually is.

Nick Powell plans to skip his graduation in order to fly to London and be part of a writing program. His best friend Pete is being bullied by Annie who is a troubled teen. After robbing a jewelry store Pete sees Annie stash the jewels in her locker.

Later her boyfriend Marcus turns her into the police but she assumes it was in fact Pete. While trying to beat a confession out of Pete he lies and says that Nick was the one that ratted her out (assuming Nick is already on a plane to London). Nick however has decided to please his mother and stick around after all. When Annie finds Nick she beats him to the point of him hanging onto life. Out of fear she hides his body and flees.

The next morning Nick wakes up in the woods and walks to school. It appears that no one can see or hear him. Nick believes he is still alive but having an out of body experience. The only person who seems to be able to hear him is Annie (although she thinks it’s just a voice in her head). Annie eventually tells the police where to find Nick’s body and is murdered by Marcus shortly afterwards.

I remember at the time it was released none of my friends wanted to see it each my buddy Jeff. We went together and fell in love with the movie. The Indie soundtrack introduced me to Oceansize and Death Cab For Cutie (who I probably should have been already listening to) and the story was captivating. 

The film is about personal decisions and redemption. While it ends with the death of Annie, she makes up for her past sins before dying. There’s a bittersweetness to this. Many people will just assume she died as a worth thug (as the principal says she will) but Nick will always know that she wasn’t that person. This is why he strikes up a friendship with her little brother.

It’s far from a masterpiece but it had a huge impact on me and I love it despite the poor reviews and critical reactions.

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