Open Water 3
The movie unwinds for us easily, without even having to be shot. "Open Water the Third!"
The accounts through which I found out about this incident in the seas surrounding Australia all spoke of a ghost ship, because the situation first became known when a stubby-looking yacht was found drifting out at sea, without anyone onboard. Immediately there were expectations of foul play, but everything looked perfectly normal, and clearly not much time had passed since the yacht had been deserted. The engine was still running, all the lifejackets were still in place, and there was food on the table.
The coroners finally decided that they knew exactly what had happened.
Just three days earlier the boat's three occupants, all of them men not far from being senior citizens, had left one part of Australia on a leisurely eight-week cruise to another part. But one man had fallen overboard while trying to unwrap some fishing line from around the rudder, a second had likewise drowned after going into the water to try to save him, and a little later the third man died while he was trying to turn the boat around by adjusting the sails, and a swinging boom activated by a sudden wind gust knocked him overboard. None of the three were good swimmers.
Instead of the "ghost ship" connection, I think this story fits in much better with the "Open Water" series of recent years.
The first "Open Water" was truly remarkable for its complete starkness, emphasized by very little dialog. A man and wife snorkeling in the open seas on a vacation are accidentally left behind to be taken by sharks, after the boat carrying the rest of their group leaves, and no notice is taken of their absence till much later.
I was so affected by the sheer dreadfulness of what happened in "Open Water" that I decided I didn't need to add that movie to the collection that I was so avidly building on DVD's. Yet when "Open Water 2" appeared on the dish I couldn't wait to check it out, just to see what anyone could possibly have found to serve as a sequel.
"Open Water 2" was full of dialog and less stark but it was still powerful, with the deal here being that instead of two there are six people involved, and all of them find themselves stranded in the water though right next to the high, smooth, and unclimbable sides of their yacht. This came about after one hotpants stupido contrives to throw an old flame that he is trying to re-seduce into the water and then joyfully jumps in behind her and the other four, who had dived in from the deck earlier to gambol for a while in the warm, calm sea. Only then does he realize that no one has bothered to open out the fancy set of steps that otherwise are enclosed flush with the ship's side and that would allow them to climb back aboard, and no one is left on the deck to unlatch the platform. Only the seducee's baby is up there, sleeping in the cabin.
Therefore the real life events of this Australian yacht incident would make an admirable (if that is the right word) "Open Water 3." The movie would write itself, and shooting it would be especially easy because the ending, normally the hardest part of a film to bring off, clearly suggests itself.
Following the third man's last struggles with the water, the camera slowly roams back aboard the ship. With occasional brief swings to other parts of the surroundings on the yacht, possibly including the running engine and the neatly stowed lifejackets, the camera dwells for at least five minutes mainly on the food on the table, waiting to be eaten. We hear the lonely sounds of the deserted ship and of the largely calm seas, and we begin to wait anxiously for the intended partakers of the meal to show up. But no welcome voices or any other sounds of human activity are heard, and no one ever appears.
Though I enjoyed the several trips I took across the Pacific in a variety of vessels, I don't at all regret the near total lack of opportunity I've had to ride to nowhere in particular in rowboats, motorboats, or yachts, because when you are out over the deep water and there is a breakdown of some sort, you can't do the thing that makes being on the dry land so much more sensible, which is simply to climb out and walk.
The accounts through which I found out about this incident in the seas surrounding Australia all spoke of a ghost ship, because the situation first became known when a stubby-looking yacht was found drifting out at sea, without anyone onboard. Immediately there were expectations of foul play, but everything looked perfectly normal, and clearly not much time had passed since the yacht had been deserted. The engine was still running, all the lifejackets were still in place, and there was food on the table.
The coroners finally decided that they knew exactly what had happened.
Just three days earlier the boat's three occupants, all of them men not far from being senior citizens, had left one part of Australia on a leisurely eight-week cruise to another part. But one man had fallen overboard while trying to unwrap some fishing line from around the rudder, a second had likewise drowned after going into the water to try to save him, and a little later the third man died while he was trying to turn the boat around by adjusting the sails, and a swinging boom activated by a sudden wind gust knocked him overboard. None of the three were good swimmers.
Instead of the "ghost ship" connection, I think this story fits in much better with the "Open Water" series of recent years.
The first "Open Water" was truly remarkable for its complete starkness, emphasized by very little dialog. A man and wife snorkeling in the open seas on a vacation are accidentally left behind to be taken by sharks, after the boat carrying the rest of their group leaves, and no notice is taken of their absence till much later.
I was so affected by the sheer dreadfulness of what happened in "Open Water" that I decided I didn't need to add that movie to the collection that I was so avidly building on DVD's. Yet when "Open Water 2" appeared on the dish I couldn't wait to check it out, just to see what anyone could possibly have found to serve as a sequel.
"Open Water 2" was full of dialog and less stark but it was still powerful, with the deal here being that instead of two there are six people involved, and all of them find themselves stranded in the water though right next to the high, smooth, and unclimbable sides of their yacht. This came about after one hotpants stupido contrives to throw an old flame that he is trying to re-seduce into the water and then joyfully jumps in behind her and the other four, who had dived in from the deck earlier to gambol for a while in the warm, calm sea. Only then does he realize that no one has bothered to open out the fancy set of steps that otherwise are enclosed flush with the ship's side and that would allow them to climb back aboard, and no one is left on the deck to unlatch the platform. Only the seducee's baby is up there, sleeping in the cabin.
Therefore the real life events of this Australian yacht incident would make an admirable (if that is the right word) "Open Water 3." The movie would write itself, and shooting it would be especially easy because the ending, normally the hardest part of a film to bring off, clearly suggests itself.
Following the third man's last struggles with the water, the camera slowly roams back aboard the ship. With occasional brief swings to other parts of the surroundings on the yacht, possibly including the running engine and the neatly stowed lifejackets, the camera dwells for at least five minutes mainly on the food on the table, waiting to be eaten. We hear the lonely sounds of the deserted ship and of the largely calm seas, and we begin to wait anxiously for the intended partakers of the meal to show up. But no welcome voices or any other sounds of human activity are heard, and no one ever appears.
Though I enjoyed the several trips I took across the Pacific in a variety of vessels, I don't at all regret the near total lack of opportunity I've had to ride to nowhere in particular in rowboats, motorboats, or yachts, because when you are out over the deep water and there is a breakdown of some sort, you can't do the thing that makes being on the dry land so much more sensible, which is simply to climb out and walk.
posted by Carl (aka Sofarsogoo) | 7:15 AM
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