by Yazmin Ghonaim

THE GLASS HOUSE Daniel Sackheim (2001) The Glass House, directed by Daniel Sackheim, plays with the concept of entrapment as it tries to deliver a suspenseful story that observes its characters' ability or inability to escape dangerous confinements. An opening scene establishes the concept: a teenage girl frantically tries to escape violent death as a masked murderer pursues her through the dark corridors of her high school. Meanwhile, Ruby (Leelee Sobieski: Eyes Wide Shut) and her high school friends witness the scene of this horror movie from a safe distance. Leaving those feelings of persecution inside the theater, however, little does Ruby expect to experience in reality a series of upcoming, terrifying events. Soon after their parents' fatal car accident, Ruby and younger brother Rhett (Trevor Morgan: Jurassic Park III) move to Malibu, California with their new guardians and former neighbors Erin and Terry Glass (Diane Lane and Stellan Skarsgard: Deep Blue Sea; My Son the Fanatic), who promise to offer the children a secure future. At once intimidated by the Glass' ultramodern mansion, Ruby and Rhett are also surprised by the contrasting austerity of the small bedroom to which they are assigned within the Glass home. Ruby is further alerted of the increasingly incomprehensible behaviors of the couple when she discovers Erin's secret drug addiction, and when she learns of Terry's risky business dealings. However, when Ruby uncovers more reasons to distrust and fear her adoptive parents --reasons which lead to the truth behind her parents' accident-- she knows that breaking away from the Glass house is essential for her survival. While The Glass House effectively establishes the ominous quality of the Glass mansion, the title also alludes to the "breakable" quality of the Glass family unit. More interestingly, The Glass House also reflects its concern with depicting the inhabitants of the protagonistic structure as being subjected to a transparency and lack of privacy that would threaten to reveal their lifestyles as well as their clandestine motions. However, although the setting is essential for establishing the young characters' unfamiliarity with (and therefore, disadvantage within) the "enemy's" sophisticated territory, the setting is not sufficiently exploited. For instance, although the interior and exterior areas of the ritzy house reveal on a narrative level their confining quality, visually they are never transformed into truly dangerous grounds or claustrophobic prison cells. A fully dramatic representation of setting could have been achieved through a more creative use of lighting, editing, camera movement, or even color filters. Lastly, while The Glass House clearly defines Ruby as an intelligent and intuitive character that promises to become the vehicle for an ingenious narrative drive, the plot does not adhere to the character's potential. All in all, The Glass House falls short of the suspense and drama it pretends to be built on.		DVD Music Books Search by keywords:
Outstanding Features: Set Design The Glass House Movie Review © 2001 Cinephiles - All rights reserved Photo © 2001 Columbia Pictures