Fathoms Deep
On the DVD case I received the screener of Zachary Block’s crime drama, “Fathoms Deep,” in, there are a couple of critical quotes about the film, calling it, “Powerful and Foreboding…,” and “Stunning and Brilliant…”. In a lot of ways, those words are very true, but they don’t shed light on what is perhaps the film’s greatest asset– it’s wicked sense of humor.
Crime films seem to be a dime a dozen when it comes to the low-budget, indie film world; I should know, as I’ve reviewed almost as many as I have character-driven dramas. So needless to say, there has to be something to a film for it to stand out within the crowd. That’s where this film’s subversive wit, as well as a wild sense of style, comes in. Even with those two things to its advantage, “Fathoms Deep” doesn’t quite stand out as much as it wants to (a lot has changed about the crime genre over the years), but it remains a hugely entertaining and gripping thriller.
Block himself co-stars as Hicks, who along with his partner, Cash (Robert Dill), have gotten into hot water with local crime bosses in modern day Los Angeles. Now being babysat in the heat of the Mojave Desert by a hot-headed enforcer (Pox, played by Austin Galante) while the aftermath of their mistake blows over, Cash and Hicks get a tough lesson in the dangers of the criminal life as wheels turn all around them to make sure those mistakes won’t happen again.
The first film I watched of Block’s was a short film entitled, “Bucovina Card Game,” a few years back. That film didn’t have much in terms of story, but it had a great deal of style, so when I began watching “Fathoms Deep” (which also has some terrific music by the band, Bad Fathers), I found that I was well-prepared for what his new film had to offer. What I wasn’t prepared for the an absurdist sense of humor and fun that is effective in keeping the film light even when it gets pretty dark. And the humor does get pretty absurd, be it from glory holes in bathroom stalls to kidnapping Jude Law to pissing around a body in the desert, Block as his co-screenwriter (Joaquin F. Palma) have some pretty crazy ideas going on in their heads. In a way, the film reminds me of “GoodFellas” when it comes to the tension derived from a life of crime, from which the only escape in the end, is death…or giving yourself over to the cops, where you’ll be watching over your back for the other shoe to drop, because as the tagline says, “There’s no such thing as good guys.”
