Of Unknown Origin
(1983)
Director: George P. Cosmatos
Cast: Peter Weller, Jennifer Dale, Lawrence Dane
As I think I
mentioned once before in a past review on this web site, we human
beings like to think we are the dominant species on this planet. We've
got the brains, we've got the looks, so we can make lots of money.
When, for instance, was the last time you heard of a beaver making any
kind of monetary amount from building a dam? But while it's easy to
think of other examples that suggest humans are perfect, a little
additional thought will come up with examples as to how humans aren't
totally different than the other members of the animal kingdom. For
starters, like every other species of animal on the earth, humans have
needs. Some of these needs are basic - we need water and food on a
regular basis in order to survive, just like those so-called lowly
animals. But we also have another kind of need that your typical animal
does not have - interests in certain subjects and actions that are not
necessary for our survival. Take myself, for instance. I have had many
interests over the years, but the strongest and longest one has been
with this web site, with hunting for and watching unknown movies, and
then subsequently writing reviews about them and putting them out on
the Internet. If you were to ask me why I have an interest in doing all
that, I really couldn't explain why. I could only answer that for me,
all those unknown movies spark some kind of fascination in me. And why
that is, I cannot say for certain. When you think about it, the subject
of how we gain and pursue interests seems to be one that hasn't really
been studied that much.
All I can possibly say is that if we all have different
fingerprints, we all are given while we're growing in our mothers'
wombs different frames of mind. And all those different frames of minds
explain why human beings not only have such a vast range of interests,
but a craving to have some kind of interest. Humans seem to be the only
species that easily get bored - and that shows we are not as superior
to other animals as we may think. But I would really like to talk about
when something becomes more of an interest, and becomes a downright
obsession. Certainly, for some people stuff like alcohol or narcotics
have become an obsession that's dangerous for one's health, but that's
not what I'm really talking about. I'm talking about when one takes an
interest that under normal circumstances is harmless, but instead goes
over the top with it. Let me talk about a fictional example of this. If
you recall the Road Runner cartoons, they involve a coyote with a non
stop pursuit of a road runner. Officially, Wile E. Coyote would tell
you he wants to catch the road runner to eat it. But film critic
Leonard Maltin, an authority of the cartoons, once wrote that for Wile
E. Coyote, it soon quickly became all about the pursuit, and that Mr.
Coyote knows deep down that he will never catch the Road Runner - he
has become obsessed with the chase portion of his so-called plan.
Indeed, when you think about a lot, Wile E. Coyote's obsession has
clearly made him unable to come up with some simple logic. For example,
he could use all the money he spends on Acme products to buy food for a
long time. And he's apparently forgotten what zoologists have known for
years, that in real life a coyote can run a lot faster than a road
runner. (Though I suspect that if Wile E. Coyote realized that and went
all out in running after the Road Runner, the Road Runner would
instantly realize he was a bird and would fly away.)
Of course, what I have just discussed was a fictional
example. Indeed, in the world of the silver screen, when we see
portrayals of obsessions, more often than not they too are fictional.
Still, when I see one of those fictional examples of a person's great
obsession with something, more often than not I find myself
interested
to at least some degree. It makes me realize that some people have
fragile minds. And being a person myself, I wonder if it's possible I
could become deeply obsessed with something to the point of coming
across as mentally disturbed to others. So I have an interest (not an
obsession!) with movies concerning people with dangerous obsessions - I
like to get insight into how someone could go around the bend, as well
as feel superior to those mentally ill people. That's one reason why I
remember liking Of
Unknown Origin
when I first saw it years ago, and after discovering a DVD copy of it
in a pawn shop recently, I decided to give it another look to see if it
stood up. The central figure in the movie is a New York businessman by
the name of Bart Hughes (Weller, Robocop)
who is married to a woman named Meg (former Playboy playmate Shannon
Tweed). Not too long into the movie, Bart's wife and young son leave
the family townhouse for a vacation. That is okay with Bart, because he
is currently up for a promotion at his place of work, and being alone
he should have no distractions with a project he's working on that
should land him that promotion at work. But not long after his wife and
son leave, Bart discovers there is a problem. A rat has invaded the
townhouse, and it's no ordinary rat. It's a giant rat, and a smart one
as well, one that is smart enough to constant evade Bart and his
various attempts to capture or kill it. Slowly but surely, Bart starts
to lose concern for his job, family, and home, becoming determined to
get his hands on that rat no matter what the cost might be.
The behind the scenes details of the movie Of Unknown Origin
are interesting because they make the movie not really belonging to one
country. The movie's principle star, Peter Weller, was American.
Director George P. Cosmatos (Rambo: First Blood Part
2) was Greek-Italian. And the producers were the legendary
Canadian movie producers Pierre David (The Paperboy)
and Claude Heroux (Breaking Point).
However, officially the movie was branded Canadian due to its two
producers. It was made while Canada still had a tax shelter available
to encourage investment in Canadian films. While most of these tax
shelter efforts had quality be of little (if any) concern, Of Unknown Origin
seems to have been a production made with high ambitions in a number of
aspects. The musical score by Ken Wannberg (The Philadelphia
Experiment),
for one thing, puts a sombre mood to the background of what plays out.
Even better than what we get to hear is what we get to see; this is a
very good looking movie. The photography by the Canadian
cinematographer Rene Verzier (City On Fire)
is first rate in every situation you can think of, from outdoor scenes
taking place in the middle of the day to the darkened yet still clear
scenes taking place in the protagonist's basement. The production also
had enough money to not only construct convincing sets (most of them
depicting various rooms in Bart's home), but to also adequately dress
existing locations with enough props and extras to make the world
depicted in the movie look extremely convincing.
When it comes to the important factors such as direction
and acting, Of
Unknown Origin
also keeps up that high class air. Director Cosmatos was known on more
than one occasion in his career to concede to the demands of his stars
or producers on a movie, but I don't think that happened here. I got
the impression there was one person definitely in control. The movie
slowly builds the feeling of tension as well as the feeling of a loss
of control in the first two-thirds, then in the last two thirds
successfully moves into what could now be called a living (and
believable) nightmare. Also, there are a number of little yet memorable
details added here and there (like when Bart takes a few seconds to
straighten a hanging picture before going to work) that show that the
same person that was in control was thinking about how to keep the
audience's attention even when the pesky rat is nowhere to be seen or
heard of in a scene. Cosmatos also manages to handle his interesting
cast well. He manages to get the relatively unknown Canadian supporting
players, most prominently Louis Del Grande (Scanners) and
Lawrence Dane (Rituals),
to give amusing performances while staying low key. That low key tone
is also what he apparently told Peter Weller to stick with for most of
the movie. At the start of the movie, Weller is easygoing while a
little bland, which I think was the correct tone. If Weller had been
more aggressive in this part of the movie, he would have been downright
goofy, and that would have been downright annoying. The subdued
performance in the beginning also makes it more believable when
Weller's character starts to lose his marbles, because we can see a
clear contrast between the two extremes. Actually, Weller only starts
ranting and raving towards the end of the movie. Until then, Weller's
growing insanity is more subtle. We see him frustrated and tired, as
well as suffering pain (physical and mental). Seeing Weller's character
going through this more subtle discomfort manages to hit home more
effectively than if Weller's performance had been severely off the wall.
The script for Of Unknown Origin
was written by Brian Taggert (Visiting Hours).
However, unlike the production values, direction, and acting, the
results in this aspect of the movie are somewhat mixed. Don't get me
wrong, the script has some good things to it. What I enjoyed most about
this depiction of obsession is that obsession is shown to not only
build slowly, but that there can be lulls and valleys in the journey
temporarily stopping the climb into dangerous territory. Very
realistic, I think. There are also some genuinely humorous moments here
and there as well, the best being when the crumbling Bart during a
business dinner starts to gross out his dinner companions by spouting a
near-rant about how rats plague mankind. However, the screenplay has
some weak spots that should have dictated a rewrite or two. There is
some awkward and forced exposition at the beginning of the movie. And
the subplot in the movie concerning Bart slowly losing favor at work
because he is spending too much time obsessing about the rat is near
the end of the movie resolved in a deus
ex machina
manner and then promptly forgotten about for the rest of the remaining
running time. But I think the biggest problem with the screenplay is
that, even at eighty-nine minutes, it runs a little too long. While I
did appreciate the movie's work of showing obsession building slowly,
at the same time things eventually gets somewhat repetitive, with one
or two too many failed attempts by Bart to get rid of the rat. A
rewrite might have managed to find a more comfortable balance. But the
script problems in Of
Unknown Origin
are not only compensated by the well made nature found in other aspects
of the movie, but by the movie's original nature. You don't see a movie
every day about a man battling a formidable rat. After seeing so many
movie formulas done over and over, I am more than open to something
new, even if it's not done perfectly.
(Posted October 31, 2020)
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See also: Crawlspace, Rats: Night Of Terror, A
Rat's Tale
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