IT'S A sure sign of the times that "The Others," a ghost story set during World War II, can be appreciated for not resorting to computer generated imagery – or CGI, to use the buzz term.
We're already so deep in the brave new world of computerized special effects that we hardly notice any more that Hollywood is doing all the imagining for us. Whether it's Steven Spielberg's scary dinosaurs or Michael Bey's low-flying planes in "Pearl Harbor," almost everything big, wonderful or out of the ordinary in the movies is a matter of keyboards and software.
Nicole Kidman stars in "The Others."
(Miramax Films)
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In "The Others," starring Nicole Kidman, we do the imagining, based on sounds that occur beyond the camera's eye, or by the looks on people's faces as they experience the supernatural. By not resorting to effects (regardless of whether the choice was artistic or budgetary), writer-director Alejandro Amenabar has been forced to scare us the old-fashioned way: with sleight of hand rather than his pocketbook. And he doesn't hyperbolize things, either. "The Others" stays small, focused and specific.
Kidman plays Grace, who has just moved into a small mansion on the island of Jersey, near the coast of France during World War II. She's waiting for the return of her husband (Christopher Eccleston) from the front. But she's also using this house as protection for her preteen children, Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley). They suffer from a condition that renders them fatally vulnerable to light. So the house, with its dark hallways and heavy curtains, is the perfect habitat. Grace asks her three new servants (Fionnula Flanagan, Eric Sykes and Elaine Cassidy) to refrain from using lights and to cover every window.
Strange things begin to happen, of course: unexplained noises around the house. When Anne claims to have seen apparitions, the religious Grace punishes her for making up stories. But when the disturbances become too obvious to ignore, she's forced to take desperate measures. Tensions increase between Grace and the servants, especially when someone seems to have purposely opened the windows. But the prim and proper Mrs. Mills (Flanagan) is adamant that the domestic staff is not to blame. The noises get louder.
There are many surprises in store. And this narrative-twisty story is helped by strong performances, a vital requirement for a movie that depends on nuance. Kidman is persuasively stoic as she resists a supernatural world she doesn't want to acknowledge. Flanagan has a powerful presence, too, that threatens to upstage Kidman at every turn. And as the children, Mann and Bentley's bickerings have the believable earmarks of a genuine sibling relationship.
But it's the atmospheric sideshow that earns the highest marks. With cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe and production designer Benjamin Fernandez, the Chilean-born director creates a memorable world of moody half-darkness, its characters standing out in luminous, eerie definition.
THE OTHERS (PG-13, 105 minutes) – Contains scenes of emotional intensity. Area theaters.
