In September 2009 I posted the trailer for this movie in Cinehouse and 19months on I didn't dream that I would be reviewing the movie THE DOOR (Die Tür its German name). The people’s movie was nearly a year old things were slowly taking shape but when I created Cinehouse it was only an experiment testing the waters but now 2 years on Cinehouse is as established as The Peoples Movies and I'm reviewing the movie!
There comes a time in everyone's life we get crippled with guilt, even remorse over something and because of this your world is falling apart but what if you had a chance to fix those previous events do the right thing, would you take the opportunity? probably you would.
Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale, Clash Of The Titans) plays David a once successful artist who loses control of his life due to the tragic death of his daughter destroying him and his marriage. Five Years of David’s life is at a crossroads and nothing to live for he attempts to commit suicide only to be rescued by a friend who then takes him for a drink but David escapes. On his way home he stumbles across a mysterious door which leads him down a tunnel into what find out is an alternate reality, as the realisation sinks into David that he’s travelled back in time he grabs the opportunity to save his daughter’s life and live those stolen years with his family. This is all done whilst the other David is shagging the neighbour but what do you do when your other self-returns? Just kill him and bury him in the back garden.
Now her life has been saved and the other David is now worm food, his daughter senses something isn't right with her dad but before time trust comes but also the real truth starts to untangle and as things start to reach paranoia level David starts to realise that he isn’t the only one to have travelled through the door.
To label THE DOOR under one genre is like asking a bricklayer to build a solid wall without mortar, impossible as the movie does take elements from a number of genres but enough for them all to fit nicely into one movie. We have sci-fi, horror, thriller, drama and despite them all working well together we never actually question anything when things get a bit surreal. A man's desperation to fix wrongs is this works and when your desperate you don't care what you have to go through to achieve your goal.
Looking at the time travel part of the movie this doesn't actually feel sci-fi but more like an Alice Wonderland Alice Looking Through Glass fantasy, as we never ask where the door/the tunnel came from but more the curiosity to find out what's at the other side of the door. The only other connection to sci-fi in the movie is David’s daughter mistrust in her father knowing something not right here, a bit like the body snatchers or one of the golden paranoia sci-fi flicks like Invaders From Mars as the boy watches his father go to top of the small hill to disappear and come back the following day completely different person.
Despite the number of unanswered questions like who knows about the tunnel plus do you have to have screwed up to go down the tunnel as well? David’s creepy neighbour Siggi does his best to answer some of the questions, well he does also know where all the dead bodies are!Despite the odd ridiculous moments the acting here is very well done who bring a sense of realism to the movie and keep with the movie for the dramatic ending in this well paced fantastic movie.
Paul Devine
Fantasy, Thriller | Germany, 2009 | 15 | Apil 18, 2011 (UK) | Studiocanal | Dir: Anno Saul | Mads Mikkelsen, Jessica Schwarz, Heike Makatsch | Buy The Door:DVD [Amazon]
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