From its initial sequence, “The Clearing” seems to be a thriller, set on pitting men from very different social stations ruthlessly against each other. As the recently laid-off Arnold Mack (Willem Dafoe) downs a bowl of Cheerios in his working-class Pennsylvania neighborhood, workaholic car rental guru Wayne Hayes (Robert Redford) breakfasts poolside next to a sprawling Pittsburgh mansion.
Thankfully, the only truly predictable moments in the slightly slow-paced but refreshingly original “The Clearing” occur in these brief initial scenes. When Wayne tells his wife, Eileen (Helen Mirren) he’ll be on time for that evening’s dinner company, the audience knows there’s no way he’s going to show. And, as Arnold nervously applies a fake moustache, there’s little question as to who will be responsible for Wayne’s absence.Inspired by a real-life Netherlands kidnapping (director Pieter Jan Brugge is Dutch), “The Clearing” is a far cry from by-the-book kidnapping flicks, which tend to attract moderate audiences and little acclaim. Helmed by novice director and longtime producer Brugge, novelist/first time screenwriter Justin Haythe’s script is distinguished by parallel storylines and a careful unraveling of increasingly complex characters. Though the sometimes overly experimental style is has its share of plot holes, fine performances by Redford, Dafoe, and Mirren render this action-disguised drama memorable.After Wayne’s abduction, “The Clearing” cuts swiftly back and forth between the forest where Arnold holds Wayne at gunpoint, and the FBI-infiltrated Hayes household were Eileen wakes up to find an agent (Matt Craven) helping himself to her eggs and bacon (“I hope we aren’t getting in your way too much.”) The Hayes’ two grown children (Alessandro Nivola and Melissa Sagemiller) have arrived, as have a daughter-in-law (Sarah Koskoff) and grandchild. As the FBI works to track Wayne’s abductor, Wayne attempts to escape from his captor.There is plenty of potential, at this point, for “The Clearing” to become part gun-wielding forest chase, part melodramatic mess. Thanks to biting dialogue and deft direction, it never does. Allowing the scenes between Arnold and Wayne to reveal Wayne’s philandering tendencies at a slightly slower rate than Eileen herself is made aware, the kidnapping is used as a device to explore Eileen and Wayne’s longtime romance.Acclaimed British actress Mirren makes most of this work beautifully. As Eileen, she’s the sort of character you think you know and gradually discover more and more about. Halfway through the film, there’s a revealing gem of a scene in which she icily tells Wayne’s former lover (Wendy Crewson), “I’d prefer if you were fucking in hotels.” And when she admits to Craven’s FBI agent that she truly loves her husband, the stakes are raised in preparation for a nail-biting finale. Discarding all notions of formula, Haythe’s script creates a remarkably three-dimensional villain in the form of down-on-his luck Arnold Mack. Rendered desperate by unemployment, Arnold- simultaneously creepy and sympathetic as played by Dafoe- may or may not be a clueless pawn in a much larger ransom scheme. As the flawed yet noble hero, Redford is surprisingly vulnerable- not unlike Mel Gibson’s character in the glossier and slightly more engaging “Ransom.”Despite moments of thriller-esque intensity, “The Clearing” is far more of a realistic character study/romance than a Hollywoodized action pic- an innovative, small-scale film in line with Redford’s Sundance sensibilities. The slightly unfulfilling ending may leave several questions unanswered, but then again, so does real life.Grade: B+EM ReviewBy Jenny Halper