In Michael Greenspan's thriller WRECKED, Adrien Brody gets delirium -- and a dog

Actors have long been cautioned to avoid working with children and dogs, but Adrien Brody, brave guy that he is, is having none of it. Or half of none of it, at least. In WRECKED, the first- full-length film from Canadian Michael Greenspan (below) and his frequent collaborator (on short films and now this one) Christopher Dodd, while there are no children to be seen, boy-oh-boy, there is one terrific canine. As good as is Mr Brody (and he's quite good), that dog's a scene stealer every time.

Wrecked is one of a breed of film that must be reasonably cheap to produce. It has only one major role, so if you can get an actor as attuned to making the moment real (that's Brody!) and who possesses an endlessly interesting face that the camera enjoys as much as we do, then half your work is already done. Here, after an opening filled with strange, out-of-focus images, we finally come to rest on our star. And he's not looking good. There's been a car crash -- a bad one -- that has left several dead and our hero (?) barely alive.

Because Brody has no one to talk to, there's damn little dialog in the movie, and that is all to the good. Once we get through the pain and screams of this fellow trying to undo himself from the wreck, we and he can concentrate of figuring out who the hell he is. Memory's been blotted out, it seems, but small and large clues abound, and with a car radio that works fitfully, we learn some details. They're not pretty. Like the gun under the seat. And what's all that money doing in the trunk?

Thinking about the film after the fact, you can spot some possible holes. While it's underway, however, even though it is fairly slow-moving, it holds you nicely. Hallucinations happen, and we're not always sure what's real. There's a woman, a nasty mountain lion, an interloper and that dog.

By the time the movie ends (at 90 minutes, including credits), we've been put through one hell of an ordeal and come out the other side. The film is small and breaks little new ground, but it's an accomplishment nonetheless.

Wrecked, from IFC Films, opens today in New York at the IFC Center, after playing VOD for the past month. Look for it to open in Los Angeles on Friday, April 8, at Laemmle's Sunset Five.

It's Father's Day, so off to Vincenzo Natali's SPLICE we go!

Designed as the perfect, ironic fix for Father's Day (or even better, Mother's Day), as well as a great monster movie, Frankenstein film, and lesson on the do's and do not's of parenting, SPLICE is all of these and more -- a scary journey into transgressive behavior of many sorts, from the ethical to the sexual to the corporate.  So much better than the usual Hollywood horror show, though it bears the Warner Bros logo, it is a mostly Canadian production (remember Last Night?), and this, more than anything, I suspect, accounts for its being a tad too good for the megaplex crowd.  (Though I must say that the small audience with whom we saw it today at New York City's AMC Empire 25, seemed very appreciative.)

Directed and co-written (with Doug Taylor and Antoinette Terry Bryant) by Vincenzo Natali, at left, who earlier gave us Cube, Cypher and the charming "Quartier de la Madeleine" vampire segment of  Paris, je t'aime, Splice proves his most mainstream movie to date, in which he sacrifices neither intelligence nor style.  His pacing is terrific (the film runs 104 minutes but seems considerably shorter), his use of humor proves spare but pointed, his movie referencing is underplayed enough not to seem self-congratulatory, while his sex scenes employ a particularly disturbing combination of heat and danger. My daughter, who treated me to the film for Father's Day pronounced it better than she had expected, "more a real movie than just a horror film."

While the screenplay telescopes events, the life of its more-or-less "heroine," Dren, seems telescoped, too, so there is both art and justice in this approach. Natali has cornered a cast that is probably better than necessary to bring this all off, which only adds to the pleasure ahead.  Because Splice, as does much of the best science fiction, deals in questions of ethics and morals, needs and desires, its characters in particular must seem true and believable, and so this casting pays off quite well. 

Sarah Polley (above, left) brings an effective combination of intelligence, neediness, anger and pain to her role of the female half of a crack team of scientists.  She's maturing as an actress and a woman, and here, for the first time that I recall, there is little left of the girlish demeanor we used to see. Adrien Brody (above, right), via his usual intensity and nerdy sex appeal, while tamping down his sometimes-tendency toward Nic Cage-like craziness, plays Polley's other half.  They make a fine team. And, in the very interesting role of Dren is an actress new to me,  Delphine Chanéac (shown below).  She can't speak, but, boy, can she communicate.  Though helped by some small but spectacular special effects, Ms Chanéac is memorable indeed.

Splice -- which should strike a number of familiar chords in the minds and hearts of many parents -- probably won't remain in theaters much longer.  But if you have a fairly large, hi-def TV, the film should prove nearly as scary and every bit as thought-provoking and fun on your home screen.