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| − | '''''Knowing''''' is a 2009 [[science fiction]] film directed by [[Alex Proyas]] and starring [[Nicolas Cage]]. The project was originally attached to a number of directors under [[Columbia Pictures]], but it was placed in [[Turnaround (filmmaking)|turnaround]] and eventually picked up by Escape Artists. Production was financially backed by [[Summit Entertainment]]. ''Knowing'' was filmed in [[Melbourne, Australia]], using various locations to represent the film's [[Boston]]-area setting. The film was released on March 20, 2009, in the [[United States]]. The [[DVD]] and [[Blu-ray]] media were released on July 7, 2009. | + | {{Infobox Film |
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| | + | '''''Knowing''''' is a supernatural (or sci-fi) thriller, starring [[Nicolas Cage]] as a widowed MIT professor who lectures on topics like [[randomness]] vs. [[determinism]]. |
| | + | It begins 50 years ago, when a socially isolated schoolgirl (Lucinda) gets the idea to have her new school bury a [[time capsule]]; her contribution is a series of digits dictated to her by ghostly whispers. After she the time capsule is buried, the little girl disappears, only to be found later in the darkened school (why didn't they turn on the lights?) in a closet with her fingers bloody. |
| | + | In the present time, when time capsule is opened, the professor's son happens to get Lucinda's letter, he sees a mysterious man. |
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| − | == Plot ==
| + | It only gets interesting when the professor happens to see the letter his son opened and starts playing around with the numbers. He happens to lock on to 9112996, a sequence he interprets as [[9/11]] and 2,996 people dead. He finds fifty more disaster events, with the exact number of reported deaths in the message as in his web searches. His university colleague scoffs, calling it spooky, and suggesting Cage has lost his judgment to grief over his wife's death. |
| − | In 1959 at [[William Dawes]] Elementary School in [[Lexington, Massachusetts]], a [[time capsule]] containing students' drawings of their ideas of the future is buried and set to be ceremoniously opened 50 years later. A girl named Lucinda Embry contributes a page full of seemingly random digits. That night Lucinda is found in a school closet, where her fingers are bloodied from scratching at the inside of the door, and she complains about hearing voices.
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| − | In 2009, the time capsule is opened and the drawings are given to the current students. A boy named Caleb receives Lucinda's envelope. His father, John Koestler, a widower and professor of [[astrophysics]] at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]], takes interest in the paper and soon realizes some of the digits represent the dates and death tolls of every major disaster over the past fifty years, and suggests three disasters still to come. Meanwhile Caleb begins receiving visits from mysterious figures in overcoats, "The Strangers". During these encounters he hears their overlapping [[telepathy|telepathic]] whispers.
| + | *The reception he gets from his colleague is, while fictional, rather typical of experts rejecting new scientific ideas. Rather than giving the idea [[independent review]], he only points out that some of the number sequences remain uninterpreted. He does not check the 50 that Cage did interpret. |
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| − | John witnesses a commercial plane crash on the date that the paper had next predicted a disaster would occur, and he discovers that the unexplained digits on the paper are the [[Geographic coordinate#Latitude and longitude|geographic coordinates]] of the events. Speaking with Lucinda's former teacher, John learns of Lucinda's closet episode, and also that she had since died after a medication overdose. He then meets Lucinda's daughter, Diana Wayland, but is rebuffed once he mentions Lucinda's paper. But after John uses the numbers to correctly predict another disaster — a [[Manhattan]] subway train derailment which John tries and fails to prevent — Diana seeks out John, and together they go to investigate Lucinda's old remote mobile home. Having noticed that the last date on the paper is not accompanied by coordinates, further clues in Lucinda's home lead John and Diana to realize that the "33" listed as the death toll for the final disaster is actually "EE" reversed, which Lucinda meant to represent "Everyone Else." In the woods outside the home, John confronts one of The Strangers, who disappears in a flash of light. It is revealed that Diana's daughter Abby can hear The Strangers' eerie whispers as well.
| + | Cage, it turns out, is estranged from his [[pastor]] father, and rebuffs a surprise visit from his sister, who has the gall to offer to pray for him. Ah, but this genre of movie has to have all sorts of strange things happening to pique your interest. |
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| − | John and a fellow professor forecast that a massive [[solar flare]] will soon reach Earth, and the final disaster on Lucinda's paper will indeed be worldwide and apocalyptic. John then examines the door of the closet in which Lucinda was found and discovers it is where she had scratched another set of coordinates. They represent the location of Lucinda's old mobile home, and John decides it is somehow a refuge from the impending disaster. Diana insists they seek shelter in some little-known underground caves instead and she takes Abby and Caleb, without John's knowledge, to go there. As panic erupts at a gas station after news of the flare is announced through an [[Emergency Alert System]] broadcast, The Strangers drive off in Diana's car with Caleb and Abby still inside. Diana gives chase in another vehicle but is killed when she is broadsided by a truck.
| + | The next day, as Cage is late picking up his kid from school, he's on a highway when a [[commuter jet]] crashes right near his car, stuck in stopped traffic.<ref>This is strange, because Lexington, Massachusetts is too small a town for a highway between home and school, and it doesn't look like Route 3A, let alone Concord Turnpike or [[Route 128]]. The only nearby airport is Hanscom Field, an airbase.</ref> His colleague says, that night, "Right now my [[scientific mind]] is telling me to have no more to do with this." |
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| − | At Lucinda's mobile home, John finds the children with the four Strangers as a glowing vessel descends from the sky. The Strangers dispossess themselves of their human appearance and reveal themselves as glowing, translucent figures surrounded by wisps of light.<!--
| + | ==Notes== |
| | + | <references /> |
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| − | Please do not put any critical/personal interpretation here of what the beings are, unless a specific filmmaker source can be cited; also please refer to discussion page
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| − | --> The Strangers invite only those who can hear their whispers to escape the destruction with them. John convinces an initially reluctant Caleb to go with The Strangers, and the vessel departs with the two children. From the vantage point of space, other ships are seen taking off from all around Earth. John travels to Boston to be with his sister and parents. While he had distanced himself from religion following his wife's death, John reconciles with his estranged father, a Christian minister. John and his family embrace as the solar flare strikes Earth, incinerating the planet. Elsewhere, Caleb and Abby are dropped off in an otherworldly field as other ships are visible along the horizon, dropping off others. The film ends as the two make their way towards a large, white, solitary tree in the distance. <!--
| + | [[Category:Movies]] |
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| − | Please do not put any critical/personal interpretation of what this represents here, unless a specific filmmaker source can be cited -->
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| − | == Cast ==
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| − | * [[Nicolas Cage]] as Professor Jonathan "John" Koestler
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| − | * [[Rose Byrne]] as Diana Wayland
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| − | * [[Chandler Canterbury]] as Caleb Koestler
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| − | * [[Lara Robinson]] as Lucinda Embry / Abby Wayland
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| − | * [[Nadia Townsend]] as Grace Koestler
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| − | * [[Ben Mendelsohn]] as Professor Phil Beckman
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| − | * [[Alan Hopgood]] as Reverend Koestler
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| − | * [[Adrienne Pickering]] as Allison Koestler
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| − | * D.G. Maloney, Joel Bow, Maximillian Paul, and Karen Hadfield as The Strangers
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| − | * [[Danielle Carter]] as Miss Taylor in 1959
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| − | * [[Alethea McGrath]] as Miss Taylor in 2009
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| − | == Production ==
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| − | ''Knowing'' was originally written by novelist [[Ryne Douglas Pearson]] and the project was set up at [[Columbia Pictures]]. Both [[Rod Lurie]] and [[Richard Kelly (director)|Richard Kelly]] were attached as directors, but the film eventually went into [[Turnaround (filmmaking)|turnaround]]. The project was picked up by the production company Escape Artists, and the script was rewritten by Stiles White and Juliet Snowden. Director [[Alex Proyas]] was attached to direct the project in February 2005.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Nicole |last=Laporte |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117918117.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 |title=Proyas digs ''Knowing'' gig |journal=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=February 16, 2005 |accessdate=May 20, 2008}}</ref> Summit Entertainment took on the responsibility to fully finance and distribute the film. Proyas and [[Stuart Hazeldine]] rewrote the draft for production,<ref>{{cite journal|first=Michael |last=Fleming |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117977454.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 |title=Cage to star in Proyas' ''Knowing'' |journal=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=December 10, 2007 |accessdate=May 21, 2008}}</ref> which began on March 25, 2008 in [[Melbourne|Melbourne, Australia]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.vfxworld.com/?sa=adv&code=3631a5a1&atype=news&id=22411 |title=Byrne Set for Sci-Fi Thriller Knowing |work=VFXWorld.com |publisher=[[Animation World Network]] |date=March 4, 2008 |accessdate=May 21, 2008}}</ref> The director hoped to emulate ''[[The Exorcist (film)|The Exorcist]]'' in melding "realism with a fantastical premise".<ref>{{cite news|last=Vejvoda |first=Jim |url=http://movies.ign.com/articles/893/893330p1.html |title=SDCC 08: Knowing When to Push |work=[[IGN]] |date=July 24, 2008 |accessdate=November 26, 2008}}</ref>
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| − | The film is set primarily in the town of [[Lexington, Massachusetts|Lexington]] with some scenes set in the nearby cities of [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]] and [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]]. To represent the Boston area, filmmakers used Australian locations such as [[Geelong Ring Road]], the [[Melbourne Museum]], [[Mount Macedon, Victoria|Mount Macedon]], and [[Collins Street, Melbourne|Collins Street]].<ref name="night">{{cite news|first=Daniel |last=Ziffer |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/film/strongfilmstrong-nicolas-cage-talks-about-the-film-emknowingem/2008/04/06/1207420201620.html |title=Night at the museum |work=[[The Age]] |date=April 7, 2008 |accessdate=May 21, 2008}}</ref> Filming also took place at [[Camberwell High School]], which was converted into the fictional William Dawes Elementary, located in 1959 Lexington.<ref>{{cite news|first=Doug |last=Nye |url=http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2009/jul/07/bc-vid-bluraymct-_-entertainment-700-words/?entertainment&national-entertainment |title=Grumpy Old Men,' Knowing' top short list of new Blu-ray releases |work=Victoria Advocate |date=July 7, 2009 |accessdate=September 22, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Jane |last=Metlikovec |url=http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23405786-2862,00.html |title=Nicolas Cage goes back to school |work=[[Herald Sun]] |date=March 30, 2008 |accessdate=May 21, 2008}}</ref> Interior shots took place at the [[Australian Synchrotron]] to represent an observatory.<ref>{{cite news|last=Bernecich |first=Adrian |title=Powerhouse for research |work=Waverly Gazette |date=October 28, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=International Film Shot at Australian Synchrotron |url=http://www.synchrotron.org.au/images/LightspeedNewsletter/lightspeed-april-2008.pdf |format=PDF |work=Lightspeed |publisher=Australian Synchrotron Company, Ltd |date=April 1, 2008 |accessdate=November 12, 2009}}</ref> Filming also took place at the [[Haystack Observatory]] in Westford, Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite news|last=Minch |first=Jack |title=Hollywood coming to Westford |work=[[The Sun (Lowell)|The Sun]] |date=September 23, 2008}}</ref> In addition to practical locations, filming also took place at the [[Melbourne Central City Studios]] in Docklands.<ref>{{cite news|first=James |last=Wigney |url=http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23603205-2862,00.html |title=Nicolas's golden cage an empty shell |work=[[Herald Sun]] |date=April 27, 2008 |accessdate=May 21, 2008}}</ref>
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| − | Proyas used a [[Red Digital Cinema Camera Company|Red One]] digital camera, making the film the first time the director used digital cameras.<ref>{{cite news|last=Fischer |first=Paul |url=http://www.darkhorizons.com/interviews/proyask.php/ |title=SDCC Interview: Alex Proyas for ''Knowing'' |work=[[Dark Horizons]] |date=August 6, 2008 |accessdate=December 13, 2008}}</ref> He sought to capture a gritty and realistic look to the film, and his approach involved a continuous two-minute take in which Cage's character sees a plane crash and attempts to rescue passengers. The take was an arduous task, taking two days to set up and two days to shoot. Proyas explained the goal, "I did that specifically to not let the artifice of visual effects and all the cuts and stuff we can do, get in the way of the emotion of the scene."<ref>{{cite news|last=Minnick |first=Remy |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17682 |title=Alex Proyas: And ''Knowing'' Is Half The Battle |work=[[Comic Book Resources]] |date=August 12, 2008 |accessdate=November 26, 2008}}</ref>
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| − | ==Reception==<!--
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| − | ''Knowing'' received mixed reviews. ''[[Rotten Tomatoes]]'' reported that 34% of critics gave the film positive write-ups based upon a sample of 145 critics with an [[weighted mean|average]] score of 4.7 out of 10, although the Rotten Tomatoes community gave the film a 60% "fresh" rating.<ref name="rt">{{cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/knowing/ |title=Knowing Movie Reviews |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=IGN Entertainment, Inc |accessdate=April 21, 2009}}</ref> At ''[[Metacritic]]'', which assigns a [[Standard score|normalized]] rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 41 out of 100 based on 27 reviews.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/knowing |title=Knowing (2009): Reviews |work=[[Metacritic]] |publisher=CNET Networks, Inc |accessdate=April 21, 2009}}</ref> The consensus observed that ''Knowing'' had "some interesting ideas and a couple good scenes" but was hampered "by its absurd plot and over-seriousness".<ref name="rt"/>
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| − | [[A. O. Scott]] of the ''[[New York Times]]'' said, "If your intention is to make a brooding, hauntingly allegorical terror-thriller, it’s probably not a good sign when spectacles of mass death and intimations of planetary destruction are met with hoots and giggles ... The draggy, lurching two hours of ''Knowing'' will make you long for the end of the world, even as you worry that there will not be time for all your questions to be answered."<ref>{{cite news|last=Scott |first=A. O. |authorlink=A. O. Scott |url=http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/movies/20know.html |title=Extinction Looms! Stop the Aliens! |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 20, 2009 |accessdate=March 31, 2009}}</ref> In the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'', Peter Hartlaub called the film "a disappointment for fans of Proyas" and "a surprisingly messy effort." He thought Nicolas Cage "borders on ridiculous here, in part because of a script that gives him little to do but freak out or act depressed".<ref>{{cite news|last=Hartlaub |first=Peter |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/20/DDLG16IL0E.DTL |title=Movie review: ''Knowing'' funny for a thriller |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=March 20, 2009 |accessdate=March 31, 2009}}</ref>
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| − | Writing for the ''[[Washington Post]]'', Michael O'Sullivan thought the film was "creepy, at least for the first two-thirds or so, in a moderately satisfying, if predictable, way ... But the narrative corner into which this movie... paints itself is a simultaneously silly and morbidly depressing one. Well before the film neared its by turns dismal and ditzy conclusion, I found myself knowing—yet hardly able to believe—what was about to happen."<ref>{{cite news|last=O'Sullivan |first=Michael |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/19/AR2009031901082.html |title=Few Surprises in ''Knowing'' |work=[[The Washington Post]] |date=March 20, 2009 |accessdate=March 31, 2009}}</ref> Betsy Sharkey of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' found it to be "moody and sometimes ideologically provocative" and added, "''Knowing'' has its grim moments—and by that I mean the sort of cringe- (or laugh-) inducing lines of dialogue that have haunted disaster films through the ages ... So visually arresting are the images that watching a deconstructing airliner or subway train becomes more mesmerizing than horrifying."<ref>{{cite news|last=Sharkey |first=Betsy |url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-knowing20-2009mar20,0,4009291.story |title=Review: ''Knowing'' |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=March 20, 2009 |accessdate=March 31, 2009}}</ref>
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| − | [[Roger Ebert]] was enthusiastic about the film, rating it four stars and ranking it "among the best science-fiction films I've seen—frightening, suspenseful, intelligent and, when it needs to be, rather awesome" in the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]''. He continued, "With expert and confident storytelling, Proyas strings together events that keep tension at a high pitch all through the film. Even a few quiet, human moments have something coiling beneath. Pluck this movie, and it vibrates."<ref>{{cite news|last=Ebert |first=Roger |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090318/REVIEWS/903189991/1023 |title=Knowing |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=March 18, 2009 |accessdate=March 31, 2009}}</ref>
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| − | === Box office ===
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| − | ''Knowing'' was released in 3,332 theaters in the United States and Canada on March 20, 2009 and grossed $24,604,751 in its opening weekend,<ref name="bom">{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=knowing.htm |title=Knowing (2009) |work=[[Box Office Mojo]] |accessdate=April 10, 2009 }}</ref> placing first at the box office.<ref>{{cite journal|last=McClintock |first=Pamela |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118001500.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 |title=''Knowing'' tops weekend box office |journal=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=March 22, 2009 |accessdate=March 22, 2009}}</ref> According to exit polling, 63% of the audience was 25 years old and up and evenly split between genders.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gray |first=Brandon |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2566&p=.htm |title=Weekend Report: ''Knowing'' Digs Up the Digits |work=[[Box Office Mojo]] |date=March 23, 2009 |accessdate=April 5, 2009}}</ref> On the weekend of March 17, 2009, ''Knowing'' ranked first in the international box office, grossing $9.8 million at 1,711 theaters in ten markets, including first with $3.55 million in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite journal|last=McNary |first=Dave |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118001824.html |title=''Knowing'' tops foreign box office |journal=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=March 29, 2009 |accessdate=March 30, 2009 }}</ref> As of July 26, 2009, the film had grossed $79,957,634 in the United States and Canada and $93,891,197 in other territories for a worldwide total of $176,175,143.<ref name="Knowing"/>
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| − | === Home Media Release ===
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| − | Knowing was released on DVD on July 7, 2009 opening at #1 for the week, selling 773,000 DVD units for $12,508,192 in revenue. As per the latest figures, 1,439,100 DVD units have been sold, bringing in $21,675,000 in revenue. This does not include DVD/Blu-rentals or Blu-ray sales.<ref>[http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2009/KNOWI-DVD.php The Numbers - Movie Box Office Data, Film Stars, Idle Speculation]</ref>
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| − | == References ==
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| − | {{reflist|2}}
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| Knowing
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Knowing is a supernatural (or sci-fi) thriller, starring Nicolas Cage as a widowed MIT professor who lectures on topics like randomness vs. determinism.
It begins 50 years ago, when a socially isolated schoolgirl (Lucinda) gets the idea to have her new school bury a time capsule; her contribution is a series of digits dictated to her by ghostly whispers. After she the time capsule is buried, the little girl disappears, only to be found later in the darkened school (why didn't they turn on the lights?) in a closet with her fingers bloody.
In the present time, when time capsule is opened, the professor's son happens to get Lucinda's letter, he sees a mysterious man.
It only gets interesting when the professor happens to see the letter his son opened and starts playing around with the numbers. He happens to lock on to 9112996, a sequence he interprets as 9/11 and 2,996 people dead. He finds fifty more disaster events, with the exact number of reported deaths in the message as in his web searches. His university colleague scoffs, calling it spooky, and suggesting Cage has lost his judgment to grief over his wife's death.
- The reception he gets from his colleague is, while fictional, rather typical of experts rejecting new scientific ideas. Rather than giving the idea independent review, he only points out that some of the number sequences remain uninterpreted. He does not check the 50 that Cage did interpret.
Cage, it turns out, is estranged from his pastor father, and rebuffs a surprise visit from his sister, who has the gall to offer to pray for him. Ah, but this genre of movie has to have all sorts of strange things happening to pique your interest.
The next day, as Cage is late picking up his kid from school, he's on a highway when a commuter jet crashes right near his car, stuck in stopped traffic.[1] His colleague says, that night, "Right now my scientific mind is telling me to have no more to do with this."
Notes
- ↑ This is strange, because Lexington, Massachusetts is too small a town for a highway between home and school, and it doesn't look like Route 3A, let alone Concord Turnpike or Route 128. The only nearby airport is Hanscom Field, an airbase.
