Across his decades-long career, Tarsem Singh (known professionally as Tarsem) built himself a following as a director. A reliable presence who delivers eye-catching visuals, this status was solidified by directing music videos (including the award-winning video for R.E.M.’s Losing My Religion), and commercials (including a famous Pepsi one which combines a Gladiator style aesthetic with musicians singing “We Will Rock You”). His transition into filmmaking would begin in 2000, with the millennium heralding this auteur’s big-screen arrival with his debut film, The Cell.
The film captures attentions from the very opening, as Howard Shore’s score brings an epic feel to seeing a figure in white riding a black horse across the sandy landscape. This turns out to be part of a dream, as child psychologist Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) has utilized experimental technology to enter the mind of a comatose boy, in an attempt to coax him into consciousness. Matters are hindered by a lack of progress, yet that does not stop Catherine’s determination to help.
Meanwhile, serial killer Carl Rudolph Stargher (Vincent D’Onofrio) has fallen into a routine of trapping his victims within glass cells which slowly fills with water. Just as the FBI identifies Stargher, the murderer falls into a coma which leaves no leads to where his latest victim is trapped. FBI Agent Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn) turns to Deane for help, so that she can enter Stargher’s mind and discover the location of his latest victim before time runs out. However, she is unprepared for the labyrinthian nightmare that is the murderer’s mind.
If Paprika was crossed with a narrative akin to The Silence of the Lambs, then The Cell is the mind-bending offspring.
From the introductory moments, Tarsem delivers a visually stunning feast that is bursting with an inventive style. While there are a few instances of the effects struggling to bring elements alive, the overall feeling is of an untethered creative whose only limitations are what he can envision. This is especially true once the journey enters the killer’s mind, painting a sumptuous picture within this dark dreamscape while depicting the vulnerability from a trauma never addressed. It simultaneously offers a fascinating take on the traditional “hunt for a killer” narrative, while also pushing back on tropes regarding child abuse victims being doomed to perpetrate that same abuse.
It is an ambitious tale, although there are moments that one wishes Tarsem could have been even more ambitious. When the camera lingers on violence towards women and the brutal aftermath, it feels regressive in a way that the 2000s could be guilty of revelling in. This is heightened by a scene where Stargher uses hooks to suspend himself over a corpse for masturbation purposes, with the moment feeling like somebody trying too hard to disgust audiences.
Regarding performances, Lopez carries this film effectively as the psychologist who wishes to help children in any possible way. D’Onofrio manages to elicit sympathy and terror effectively through the many guises of his killer, delivering tremendously through a mere look in his eyes. Rounding off this central trio is Vaughn’s weary detective who wishes to stop this rising body count, although there are moments when the performance borders on appearing bored. These characters are fascinatingly shown to have their lives consumed entirely by their work, and it all makes for an effective start to Tarsem’s career.
If Paprika was crossed with a narrative akin to The Silence of the Lambs, then The Cell is the mind-bending offspring.
THE CELL IS OUT NOW ON ARROW VIDEO BLU-RAY AND 4K
James’s Archive – The Cell
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