"Hide And Seek" (2005)

In a nutshell: Robert DeNiro plays David Callaway, a widower attempting to get his life together in the wake of his wife’s suicide. At the same time his daughter, Emily Callaway (played by Dakota Fanning), finds solace – at first – in an imaginary friend named Charlie.

I can’t help feeling like this movie, while very good, is in some ways riddled in clichés. Under the risk of being insensitive, it’s almost always the mother who dies or is dead, while the whole father-trying-to-reconnect-with-his-child-who’s-for-all-intents-and-purposes-having-none-of-it comes in. Then there’s the feature of the sentimental music box, the overly friendly neighbours who bring baskets of food upon arrival, the inclusion of fishing as a pastime, the overly enthusiastic “friend” who also loves dolls but who Emily has no desire to be friends with, and finally there’s this friend’s aunt who unconsciously attempts to take the place of her mother and who Emily isn’t impressed with.

I think also it tries too hard to be scary: the music in the beginning with the font in the titles credits, along with the inclusion of all these dolls (dolls can be scary things!).  There’s a scene in which he’s almost reliving the night his wife died as he wakes at the same time, goes down the corridor towards the bathroom exactly the same as that night only when he pulls back the curtains, instead of his wife being there of course, it’s writing on the wall saying “You let her die”. I don’t think there was enough build up to make that moment as scary as it could have been and as a result it just felt like it was trying too hard and not succeeding. This actually happens a second time later on in the film too but it’s the cat that’s found dead in the bathtub. Naturally, Charlie gets the blame.

 

I like how the reference of hide and seek does continue throughout the film; we see Emily’s mother playing the game with her before tucking in for bed, which turns out to be a nightly ritual as her father does it later too, then it comes back into play later on too with the whole idea of Charlie being invisible and an imaginary friend.

I think Dakota Fanning is really good in this film, particularly so when you consider she was eleven. She starts off as this really happy and innocent girl for the first scene or so, but as the film goes by becomes more hostile and sceptical after what’s happened to her. Robert DeNiro, too, is good of course. I wouldn’t say it’s his best role, but, as I say, it’s not bad either.

There is a plausible twist in the plot with a reasonable enough explanation behind it. It ties in everything, all the strange happenings that have taken place throughout the film. I find it hard to make a concrete impression of this film. I guess in its own right it is a good enough film. Not the best thriller/horror I’ve seen, but not too bad a one either.

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