Descent (2007)

Descent: Directed by Talia Lugacy. With Rosario Dawson, Chad Faust, Marcus Patrick, Vanessa Ferlito. A college co-ed is brutally raped and struggles alone to rebuild her life.

“u0026quot;Descent.u0026quot; Yeah. Boy… I havenu0026#39;t seen anything this powerful and scintillating since Bruno Dumontu0026#39;s, u0026quot;Twentynine Palmsu0026quot; (2003). (By the way this film is not to be confused with another fairly recent pic about the topic of u0026quot;female empowerment,u0026quot; u0026quot;THE Descentu0026quot; (2005), directed by our Splat Pack friend, Neil Marshall, who also happens to be a major talent his own right.) But getting back to this u0026quot;Descent,u0026quot; the NC-17 rated (uh-oh) effort on which the lovely Ms. Dawson takes a produceru0026#39;s credit (congratulations) and directed by Talia Lugacy (strong chance thatu0026#39;s not a real name), as good as it is (in moments), it will not be appreciated by most lay people out there because the script is pretty flawed. As a producer, you really have to tighten up that script. Of course, in the premise alone, you have the promise of rising conflict, but there still lies the task therein of accomplishing rising conflict.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAt times, this thing plays like an interesting piece of experimental theater and, well, I guess Iu0026#39;ll let the others whou0026#39;ve already commented here speak to the boringness of it, namely that which occurs in the second act -but find me a second act that isnu0026#39;t boring? Thereu0026#39;s also this Catch 22 that goes along with these quasi-independent films like u0026quot;Descentu0026quot; in which Rosario happens to be attaching herself to and leveraging her u0026quot;fame-identityu0026quot; to get a script into production that would, under usual circumstances, not get made at all while at the same time she is basically a miscast in the filmu0026#39;s leading role. Rosario Dawson is gorgeous and, apparently, you can shoot this girl from just about any angle all day long, but, oh, wow-wee, how fast the time just slips away: Rosy ainu0026#39;t no undergraduate no more. Thatu0026#39;s part of the confusion about the screenplay: u0026quot;Is she a graduate student? A TA? No, graduate students donu0026#39;t really have these type of qualms with football players, do they?u0026quot; Again, if you are Rosario Dawson, Executive Producer, thatu0026#39;s the one of many, many aspects to the professional film process youu0026#39;ll have to think about as you embark on this wonderful new role in your film career. And if you donu0026#39;t have the answer to why youu0026#39;re movie isnu0026#39;t convincing, let me tell you: there is a boatload and a bevy of vivacious, well-qualified, undergraduate aged talents, pining to get involved in the business, who might have nailed that lead character down, all the while, looking just as darn good as you know who; but unfortunately without Ms. Dawson -no Honey, NO money. I have to say, the camera department did an outstanding job, however, because this film is really well shot (i.e. lit) in all its dreary/dreamy darkness. The nightclub scenes look wonderful; one can tell all those music videos are starting to pay off and the play with time… The shooting/framing is all quite excellent which makes the picture a rewarding watch.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Descentu0026quot; is good not great. However, I have a feeling, thanks to NetFlix, this movie will find a life of its own. I hope this group continues making films. If youu0026#39;re into experimental American film-making, cinematographic imagery of implausibly well formed college studs (or male model drop-outs) in their early twenties, or if youu0026#39;re an undergraduate, just plain angry at the hormonally aggressive young men that comprise less than half of your American university, u0026quot;Rosario Dawsonu0026#39;s Descentu0026quot; might be your flavor of RockaRoll.”