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Leelee and her young brother Trevor Morgan (looking nothing alike whatsoever) are orphaned when their parents die in a car accident. They are handed over to the Glass family, a close pair of friends to the parents (as they happen to live accordingly in a glass house), but while the “opulence” (as the press kit puts it) is a wonderful and spectacular piece of décor, there is something more sinister lurking inside, and possibly in the Glass’ motives, considering that the orphaned children have been left quite an endowment.

The early introduction to the characters—mainly Leelee’s—is weak and superficial, and it doesn’t help to have skull-vibrating music blasted to the max, obscuring much of the conversation. As Wesley Strick’s script starts heading more into the “thrilling” terrain, the expected and anticipated terrain, it quickly begins to get better. The paranoia of Leelee’s character, Ruby, is not very unreal. As she develops suspicions from questionable occurrences, added to the stress of having suddenly and tragically lost one’s parents, it is not unbelievable to confuse yourself over how much one might be looking too hard at a situation. But it is that very feeling, the unknowing, especially when things begin to add up, that lends The Glass House a genuinely eerie and nightmarish ambience. That surreal feeling is doubtlessly nowhere comparable to the same tension and fluidity that a David Lynch or a Franz Kafka conjures up in their respective careers. And maybe it is just me, familiar with the uneasiness of such a dream, everything turned upside down, not plausible, yet still wholly real. People turned against you, ignoring you, or simply ignorant towards you; and the feeling of being trapped in a box—or this case, a house, the walls, constructed of glass and plastic, allowing one to clearly see outside, but unable to get there and with the outside world blinded to what is contained for one’s examination.

The Glass House is far, far off from being perfect, but it is an entertaining, tasty morsel. Strick isn’t very good at tying up loose ends and keeping track of what he frays along the way; there are too many times that there are no follow ups with characters or events (e.g., the social worker) that should otherwise have a major effect on the story. But despite all this, the glass only cracks, never shattering. Director Daniel Sackheim modestly works the suspenseful pace and progressive turnstiles by allowing one to tilt their head, but never to twist it. Even better than Leelee as the first-billed “actor” of the movie is the glass house itself, a beautifully crafted postmodern masterpiece. The thing would be too naked for my own personal likes, but the production design is elegantly and fascinatingly blueprinted by Jon Gary Steele and Sarah Knowles. Alvin Kivilo’s cinematography excellently captures and maneuvers the set/house, and the sensuous way it is filmed so strongly brings back memories of the glass church that was even more exquisite in Oscar & Lucinda. The porcelain China Doll-faced Sobieski handles the lead very headstrongly and very convincingly. She effortlessly outdoes Stellan Skarsgård (though still amiably holding his ground), Diane Lane (looking and acting like an older Bijou Phillips), Bruce Dern and Rita Wilson. Morgan, fresh of the island in Jurassic Park III especially reminds me of a young Elijah Wood, circa middle Nineties with The Good Son. Morgan is a bit more aloof, disassociated, but isn’t annoying as many adolescent actors his age. The high school sequences are still terribly awkward and artificial, but as the first of three Leelee movies due out this season, I am so far plenty satisfied and highly awaiting seconds and thirds.

With Carly Pope, Chris Noth and Kathy Baker.

Final Verdict: B+.

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link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=2006&reviewer=172
originally posted: 10/06/01 16:07:49
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