Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
My e-mail box has taken quite a beating in the five days since I published my UNBREAKABLE review. I've gotten letters both pro and con, people defending the film to me, attacking me for not liking it, coming down on my side, twisting my mixed review into a shared hatred. I've seen every sort of response, from an intriguing couple of letters sent from a certain inmate of an asylum outside Philadelphia to illiterate rantings about my parenthood or lack thereof. As always, it's been a trip to sort through it, and it's kept that film in my mind for the past few days, if nothing else.
One thing I will concede to those who wrote me in defense of the film is that you had an experience I didn't have: you were surprised by the film. This seems to be a very large part of why some of you are so rabid about the movie. You enjoyed that sense of being surprised. You liked being caught off-guard. I can respect that. I know that some of the film experiences I love most are the ones where I was startled, surprised, when I found a gem in a place I wasn't looking. IRON GIANT was like that for me. I saw it one night before I'd heard a word about it, saw an unfinished print of it, and it rocked me. It literally sent me off-balance for days.
Well, I just had my ass handed to me all over again tonight when I was invited to a test screening of SALTON SEA, the feature film directorial debut of DJ Caruso. I read the script for this movie and even wrote a review of the script back in April. I thought at the time that it was a solid read and could turn into a groovy little movie if Caruso handled his cast and the Tony Gayton script just right. Then a few weeks back, Mysterio sent in the first screening review I'd seen for the film. He seemed to dig the movie in a reserved sort of a way, with one major reservation involving a scene near the end of the film involving Anthony LaPaglia's character.
Before I continue, let me say that I will be treading very, very, very, very lightly in terms of spoilers in this review. I do that because I am acutely aware of not wanting to steal from you one bit of the particular quirky pleasure of this film and the way it unspools. I do that because the film's executive producer would strangle me if I ruined it for you. And I do that because Warner Bros. could have a lot of fun marketing this film if they pay attention to the audiences they show it to between now and release.
This is not a film built around one central surprise like THE USUAL SUSPECTS or THE SIXTH SENSE or DARK CITY. Instead, this is a film that is built around a gradually unfolding web of mystery, a puzzle box with a broken heart at its center. The film starts with an arresting series of images that dissolve from one to the next. A bruised and bloody man plays a mournful Miles Davis song on trumpet. Flames lick the ceiling of a cheap motel room. Money is stacked haphazardly around him. As he plays, his mind wanders, and we hear his cascading thoughts in voice over. He wonders who he is, where he is, how he got here. He muses about the different roles he's played, the different lives he's led. And it all comes down to speed. "Speed's as good a place to start as any," he says.
And then we're off and running, immersed in the world of methamphetamine users and dealers in Southern California. And this script that I thought I had figured on the page, it unfolded in front of me into something dirty, something gritty, something alive and absorbing and brutal and funny and at the heart of it was the biggest surprise of all, the biggest reason to tell you to see this film as soon as you get a chance...
... Val Kilmer nailed it.
Thank you, Tony Gayton. Thank you, DJ Caruso. Thank you to all the producers and the crew and the rest of the amazing cast. Thank you to everyone who was part of whatever magical blend brought us to this place. It's been a long, long time since I was able to point at a film and say "That's the reason he matters" in regards to Val Kilmer. I was a fan of his from first exposure back in the TOP SECRET! and REAL GENIUS days. I thought this guy was going to be one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. TOP GUN gave him commercial credibility, and it looked like he was being smart with roles in films like the early John Dahl film KILL ME AGAIN and his astounding portrayal of Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's THE DOORS.
And then something happened. God only knows what, but it derailed the guy. Sure, he showed signs of life in TOMBSTONE, but the film itself was average at best. THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU cemented his reputation as the most difficult eccentric this side of Brando, the kind of reputation that can destroy a career. Ventures like THE SAINT and AT FIRST SIGHT have done nothing to return Kilmer to serious consideration as either a star or an actor, and I was just about ready to quit on him altogether. I just couldn't take it anymore, watching him piss it away in subpar role after subpar film.
So tonight as I was watching the start of this film, I was paying attention to DJ Caruso's work, curious why Darabont's been such a strong supporter of this young filmmaker for so long now. I was basking in the confident, crisp cinematography of Amir (EYE FOR AN EYE, THE JOY LUCK CLUB) M. Mokri. I was focused on these other things, so when Kilmer's remarkable work started sneaking up on me, I wasn't prepared for it. I wasn't expecting it.
And that sense of discovery, of being surprised, was delicious.
It should surprise no one that Adam Goldberg and indie god Luis Guzman and Peter Sarsgaard and Shirley Knight and Anthony La Paglia and Doug Hutchison and Debra Kara Unger and Danny Trejo and BD Wong all do excellent supporting work here. That's a supporting cast made up of some of the most consistent and interesting names and faces out there right now. It should surprise no one that Vincent D'Onofrio manages to paint a more convincing portrait of a deranged and dangerous man with the 25 minutes he has here than he did in the entire running time of THE CELL. It is, after all, what he's best known for.
What might surprise you is how effortlessly this film manages to blend dark humor in the first half with genuine fear and pain in the second half. What might surprise you is how morally ambiguous they're willing to leave the ending, one of my favorite things about classic noir fiction by guys like Jim Thompson, but not something you see much of in modern big-budget Hollywood films. What might just blow you away is how this seems so effortless, so simple, and so fresh, when we've seen Tarantino clones fail one after another in the years since PULP FICTION blew up. Here's something that manages to stake a claim as something original, something unique, even as it stands among the best of its genre. This thing hit me the way OUT OF THE PAST did upon first viewing, as a great glimpse of something black and true at the heart of all of us.
Danny Parker is a tweaker, a meth addict. He may also be a police snitch, turning in dealers and users in order to help himself out of a jam. He may also be a man running from memories of a lost love, a missing wife. He may be a musician, or he may be a fed, or he may just be in over his head, a man looking for justice where there is none. Hell, he may not even be Danny Parker.
Telling an audience more than that before they see the film really isn't fair, which makes Warner's job selling the movie a little tricky. And I say "a little" because the solution should seem fairly evident: sell the secret. It worked spectacularly for Miramax with THE CRYING GAME, and it seems to be working well for Disney's UNBREAKABLE right now. SALTON SEA isn't just some summary you read in the paper; it's an experience you have to go have. The audience tonight hung on every beat of this film, applauding it as the lights came up at the end, digging it, going with it. At one point early on, after we've seen just how freaky the world of the tweaker can be, just how low these people will go to get high, Danny begs us in voice-over, "Don't judge me yet." It's a testament to the sort of star charisma that Kilmer musters here that we do just that. We go along with him, waiting, reserving judgement until everything is done, until all the information is in. Even then, there's no guarantee any two audience members are going to feel the same about what Danny does, or why. For me, this was a brutal journey, but it's one that ultimately seems to be about hope and healing, however strange it seems.
I hope this film plays some festivals and has a chance to build some real critical momentum before its release in the spring. South By Southwest would be a great place to unleash it on the world, and it would help showcase the great work by this cast and this talented new filmmaker. If Warner handles this film carefully, with the care and attention it deserves, it's got a chance to make a real mark.
In the interest of full disclosure, I was invited to the screening tonight by one of the film's producers, Frank Darabont. Doesn't make a bit of difference. He invited me not because I'm a friend or because he wanted the publicity for the film. He invited me because he knew they'd made something special, and he wanted to show it off. He couldn't wait any longer to share. I'm eager for them to make their last few tweaks and nips and tucks on the film and start showing it, because I think you guys are gonna love it when it finally hits. It's one of those films you're going to see a couple of times as you show it to friends, when you can't wait to share it yourself. Until then...
"Moriarty" out.
