Odeya Rush Archives – CULTURE MIX

November 3, 2023

by Carla Hay

Odeya Rush in “Dangerous Waters” (Photo courtesy of Brainstorm Media)

“Dangerous Waters” (2023)

Directed by John Barr

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Atlantic Ocean near the Dominican Republic, the action film “Dangerous Waters” features a predominantly white cast (with a few Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and criminal underground.

Culture Clash: A 19-year-old woman goes on a boating trip with her widowed mother and the mother’s new boyfriend, but things go horribly wrong after a violent invasion on the boat, and the daughter finds out some terrible secrets.

Culture Audience: “Dangerous Waters” will appeal mainly to people who don’t mind watching tawdry “women in peril” movies that have a lot of unrealistic scenes.

Saffron Burrows, Eric Dane and Odeya Rush in “Dangerous Waters” (Photo courtesy of Brainstorm Media)

With horrendous film editing, “Dangerous Waters” (which is about a boat vacation that goes very wrong) has too many plot holes that are bigger than the ocean where much of this misguided story takes place. Characters are shown in deadly danger in one scene, and then in the next scene, they’re no longer in danger, with no explanation for how they got out of the predicament. The movie’s protagonist also has a showdown at the end of the film that looks like a rushed and badly conceived part of the story.

Directed by John Barr and written by Mark Jackson, “Dangerous Waters” has too many unbelievable scenarios to be taken seriously, but the movie desperately wants to be taken seriously. There’s no hint of irony, satire or comedy in the film. It’s just an erratically paced movie that alternates between dull “stranded in the ocean” scenes and fake-looking action scenes.

In “Dangerous Waters,” a woman has to fight off a lot of villains in order to escape from this hellish situation. The movie’s protagonist is 19-year-old Rose (played by Odeya Rush), who lives with her widowed mother Alma (played by Saffron Burrows), who works as a server at a local restaurant. Very little is told about Rose in this movie, except that she’s taking a gap year before going to college. Rose’s father, who was a decorated soldier in the U.S. military, passed away when she was very young. He died in combat when he was “blown up in Iraq,” according to what Rose says in the movie.

The movie doesn’t say where Rose and Alma live in the United States, but it’s close enough to the Caribbean, where Rose and Alma intend to sail on a fateful boating trip that is scheduled to be a 10-day vacation for them. (The movie was filmed on location, in and near the Dominican Republic.) Alma and Rose are going on this trip with Alma’s new boyfriend Derek Stipes (played by Eric Danes), a former police officer who is now a private security consultant. Alma and Derek have been dating each other for about a month. Derek owns the small sailboat that they will be taking for this trip.

Rose is wary about this trip because Alma doesn’t know Derek very well, but Alma convinces Rose to go on this vacation with her and Derek. There isn’t much to do on this boat but lounge around. Derek and Alma act as if they’re on a romantic couple’s trip, which makes Rose feel out of place. Expect to see Rose pouting a lot and having a hard time trusting Derek, who might as well be wearing a T-shirt that says, “I’ve Got Some Dirty Secrets.”

All of this sounds like the plot of a Lifetime movie. However, the main differences between “Dangerous Waters” and a Lifetime movie is that “Dangerous Waters” has graphic violence and explicit adult language, and the quality of filmmaking is much worse than a Lifetime movie. The atrocious film editing in “Dangerous Waters” jumps from scene to scene, often with no real continuity and with unexplained gaps in the story.

The first third of “Dangerous Waters” is a somewhat boring depiction of Rose, Alma and Derek having awkward conversations on the boat. At one point, Derek sharply swerves the boat, causing Alma (who is on deck) to fall into the water. Alma falls while holding Rose’s cell phone, which drops in the ocean. Derek rescues Alma, which makes Rose a little more trusting of Derek. But viewers are supposed to wonder: “Was Derek’s sharp swerve really an accident, or was it deliberate?”

While Derek was rescuing Alma, Rose went below deck to look for a blanket that Alma could use after emerging from the cold water. Rose sees in a trunk that Derek has an AR-15 rifle. As soon as she finds this gun, you just know this gun is going to be used.

And sure enough, Rose asks Derek if she can shoot the gun. He says yes, with Alma’s reluctant permission. It turns out that Rose is very skilled at shooting guns. Alma says that Rose has somehow inherited the gun-shooting skills that Rose’s father had. Rose is going to need those gun skills.

The middle of the movie is about a boat invasion and Rose being stranded in the ocean. The trip becomes a catastrophe when two men on a speedboat show up at night and suddenly invade Derek’s boat. It’s a violent robbery where Alma and Derek are attacked while Rose stays hidden out of sight from the attackers, who don’t know that she on the boat. The boat invaders are looking for something that Derek has, but Derek denies that he has it.

These invaders obviously know Derek and don’t believe him. When the invaders find what they’re looking for, they punish Derek by throwing him overboard. Alma is shot by the invaders, and she doesn’t survive. After the attackers leave, Rose finds Derek still alive in the ocean, when a barely conscious Derek floats near the boat. This isn’t spoiler information, since the trailer for “Dangerous Waters” gives away about 85% of the plot.

Before the invaders leave, they set fire to the boat, not knowing that someone (Rose) on the boat is alive and hiding inside. Rose uses a fire extinguisher to try to put out the flames, which are everywhere. (This part of the movie is also in the “Dangerous Waters” trailer.) You don’t have to be a firefighter to know that one fire extinguisher isn’t going to be enough to put out this raging blaze.

However, the movie abruptly cuts to the next day to show that the fire has vanished. One of the most idiotic things about “Dangerous Waters” is how the movie never bothers to explain how the fire got extinguished. Rose is stuck on a boat that doesn’t look as burned as it should be, considering how large this fire was. Rose can’t call for help because the boat’s communication equipment is burned and inoperable.

Rose also doesn’t show any signs that her health was negatively affected by smoke inhalation. Other moronic scenarios in the movie: There’s more than one occasion where Derek is presumed dead but then he shows up alive. “Dangerous Waters” gets more ridiculous, as it tries to make Rose some type of combat warrior heroine.

“Dangerous Waters” is the final movie that actor Ray Liotta filmed. At the age of 67, he died in his sleep from several health issues in 2022, while he was making this embarrassing flop movie. Liotta doesn’t appear until the last third of “Dangerous Waters,” where he has the role of the movie’s chief villain: a sex trafficker named The Captain. The acting performances in “Dangerous Waters” are mediocre but made worse by the awful screenplay. There are no real surprises in “Dangerous Waters,” which just turns into a mindless mishmash of fight scenes which look as phony as the movie’s failed attempt to look like a feminist movie.

Brainstorm Media released “Dangerous Waters” in U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on October 13, 2023.

March 18, 2022

by Carla Hay

Fivel Stewart and Sandra Oh in “Umma” (Photo by Saeed Adyani/Stage 6 Films)

“Umma” (2022)

Directed by Iris K. Shim

Some language in Korean with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed part of the U.S., the horror film “Umma” features a cast of Asian and white characters representing the working-class ad middle-class.

Culture Clash: A single mother, who works as a beekeeper/honey merchant, is haunted by memories of her abusive mother.

Culture Audience: “Umma” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of star Sandra Oh, whose talent is wasted in this boring and predictable horror movie.

Tom Yi and Sandra Oh in “Umma” (Photo by Saeed Adyani/Stage 6 Films)

In the forgettable and formulaic horror flick “Umma,” the main character is a beekeeper with mother issues. Bees in a hive have more purpose and intelligence (and can scare more people) than this silly mess of a film. So much of “Umma” is a waste: A waste of a talented cast. A waste of a potentially good idea for a horror story. And a waste of time to anyone who watches this disappointing flop.

Written and directed by Iris K. Shim, “Umma” gets its title from the Korean word for “mother.” That’s because “mother issues” are at the center of a Korean American family haunted by abuse. “Umma” takes place in an unnamed part of the U.S. but was actually filmed in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

In “Umma,” Amanda (played by Sandra Oh) is the only child of Korean immigrants, who are now deceased. Amanda is a single mother to a daughter named Chris (played by Fivel Stewart), nicknamed Chrissy, who’s about 17 years old. Amanda is a beekeeper/honey maker who owns a small business called Chrissy’s Honey Bees, where Amanda and Chris are the only workers.

Most of their honey is sold online, with help from Amanda’s friend Danny (played by Dermot Mulroney), who owns a hardware store not too far away and who manages the website and social media for Chrissy’s Honey Bees. Business has recently been doing so well for Chrissy’s Honey Bees, many of the products are selling out. Danny tells Amanda that she might have to hire more people to help her keep up with customer demand.

Later in the movie, it’s revealed that Amanda started this business only because Chris became obsessed with bees, and Amanda wanted a way to have a closer bond with her daughter. Amanda previously had a less risky and more financially stable job as an accountant, and she had to overcome her fear of bees to start this business. Because of this personal sacrifice, Amanda expects Chris to work with her in the business as long as possible.

Amanda is extremely protective and controlling of Chris, who has been homeschooled her entire life and has no friends. Chris’ father is never seen or mentioned in the movie, and he’s never been involved in raising her. Later in the movie, when someone asks Amanda where her husband is, she replies defiantly that she’s never felt the need to have a husband.

Amanda is deeply fearful of electrical appliances and distrustful of modern technology—so much so that she doesn’t allow Chris to have a smartphone. Chris has to make do with an outdated mobile flip phone. And needless to say, there are no TVs or computers in their house, which is an isolated, rural area. Of course it’s in a remote area. This is a horror movie, but the scares in “Umma” are underwhelming.

The opening scene of “Umma” shows why Amanda has a fear of electrical appliances: As a child, Amanda’s domineering mother would physically abuse her with heated electrical wires. This abuse is not shown in graphic detail in the movie’s flashbacks, but enough is shown for viewers to know what’s happening. Hana Marie Kim portrays Amanda as a child in these flashbacks.

Amanda’s family history is revealed in bits and pieces through conversations and flashbacks. Amanda’s parents had a happy marriage until they moved from Korea to the United States. Amanda’s mother (played by MeeWha Alana Lee) became depressed and difficult to the point where Amanda’s father couldn’t take it anymore, and he abandoned his wife and daughter. (Amanda’s father is never shown in the movie.)

Amanda’s mother then became increasingly paranoid that Amanda would leave her. In the flashback shown in the movie’s opening scene, a young Amanda can be heard wailing in fear, “Umma, I promise I won’t run away again,” before she can be heard screaming as her mother inflicts some violent abuse on her. Expect to see several scenes of Amanda waking up from nightmares.

You know where all of this is going, of course. Amanda is afraid that she’ll end up just like her mother. Amanda has lied to Chris about her family background, by telling Chris that she was raised by two people named Gloria and Bill, who died before Chris was born. The movie shows whether or not Chris finds out the truth. Amanda is also upset that Chris intends to apply for admission to West Mesa University, which is in another state.

In the meantime, Amanda unexpectedly gets a visit from someone she doesn’t want to see: Her mother’s brother (played by Tom Yi), who does not have a name in the movie. However, he knows Amanda by her Korean birth name: Soo-Hyun, which is a name that Amanda hasn’t used since her very unhappy childhood.

What’s the reason for this unannounced visit from Amanda’s uncle? After he scolds her for not being in touch with the family and for making it difficult to find her, he tells Amanda that Amanda’s mother died a few months earlier. He’s there to deliver a small trunk that has her mother’s ashes and several of her mother’s most treasured belongings. One of these items is a Hahoetal, which is a Korean death mask.

It’s at this point in the movie that you know the ghost of Amanda’s mother will begin haunting Amanda’s home and the surrounding property. But does this ghost really exist? Or is she a figment of Amanda’s imagination? The movie wastes a lot of time with predictable jump scares in a weak attempt to confuse viewers over what’s real and what might be Amanda’s delusions.

And it should come as no surprise that it’s yet another horror movie where the main character’s mental stability is questioned because this person claims to be seeing an evil spirit. But what other people see is Amanda having blackouts while sometimes wearing her mother’s clothes. And predictably, Amanda becomes increasingly disturbed.

There’s nothing truly scary or unpredictable about anything that’s presented in “Umma.” Yes, there are violent attack scenes and people screaming when things get out of control, but too much of it is shown in a very stale manner that’s been done many times already in better horror movies. And for a movie that takes place mostly on a beekeeping farm, there’s surprisingly very little use of the bees in the movie’s terror scenes.

“Umma” has a somewhat time-wasting subplot about Chris becoming friendly with Danny’s teenage niece River (played by Odeya Rush), who gives Chris confidence-boosting pep talks about how it’s okay to be a weirdo and a misfit. Unfortunately, everyone in the movie, except for complicated and confused Amanda, is written as bland, two-dimensional characters. The movie also badly mishandles mental health issues.

The technical aspects of “Umma” are competent, except for an almost laughable visual-effects scene involving a very fake-looking fox with multiple tails. This creature is supposed to be terrifying, but looks like it belongs in a kiddie cartoon, not a horror movie. And with the manifestation of Amanda’s mother, “Umma” tritely uses the Hahoetal death mask as a symbol for how people sometimes hide their true selves from the world, since it’s implied that Amanda’s mother was able to keep her child abuse crimes a secret.

“Umma” missed some big opportunities to have quality depictions of generational trauma. The movie also has a very limited view of Korean heritage, which is mostly used in “Umma” as a plot device to invoke fear in the characters. “Umma” is just a series of half-baked jump scares and underdeveloped characters, with a rushed ending that leaves some important questions unanswered and audiences feeling like “Umma” is a just another ripoff horror movie.

Stage 6 Films released “Umma” in U.S. cinemas on March 18, 2022.

Tag: Odeya Rush

Review: ‘Dangerous Waters’ (2023), starring Odeya Rush, Eric Dane, Saffron Burrows and Ray Liotta

Review: ‘Umma’ (2022), starring Sandra Oh