Film Review: MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL (1997, Clint Eastwood)

Stars: 4 of 5.
Running Time: 155 minutes.
Tag-line: "Welcome to Savannah, Georgia. A City Of Hot Nights And Cold Blooded Murder."
Notable Cast or Crew: Kevin Spacey, John Cusack, Jude Law, Irma P. Hall (THE BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS), Jack Thompson (FLESH + BLOOD, BROKEN ARROW), Geoffrey Lewis (HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, TANGO & CASH), Paul Hipp (FACE/OFF, LETHAL WEAPON 3), Alison Eastwood (TIGHTROPE, BRONCO BILLY), The Lady Chablis as herself. Music by Lennie Niehaus.
Best one-liner: "It's like my mom always said: 'Two tears in a bucket, motherfuck it.'" Said by the Lady Chablis.

Part travelogue, part courtroom drama, and part quasi-Lynchian exploration of American underbelly eccentricities, MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL is an extremely solid effort from director Clint Eastwood, and one of his rare films that has eluded majority critical acclaim. Now, regardless of what is true or false in relation to the source (the bestselling non-fiction novel by John Berendt), and what is true or false in the book vis-á-vis reality, the film is still a remarkably compelling narrative and one which (despite the presence of characters playing themselves) we should probably just view as historically-inspired fiction.

Clint's directing style has been called languid, reflective, and even 'Zen,' and all of those characteristics come into play here as Clint unpacks the narrative like it's an exquisite doily, carefully lifted and unfolded from a dusty box in the attic.

The cast is immaculate: John Cusack plays our hotshot Manhattan wordsmith and is our point of entry into this world of Savannahians who "are all heavily armed and drunk."

Kevin Spacey is certainly brilliant as a mustachioed Southern gent––he is completely immersed in the role (one of his best) and his complete connection comes through in the slightest of gestures––how he pets his cat, how he deliciously presents an 'evil' historical dagger, how he smokes his cigar, how he eyes a Faberge egg.

In a small part, a fresh-faced Jude Law is fully committed––(but kind of is the worst redneck since Joaquin Phoenix in U TURN):

We forgive him, though. I think?

Eastwood regular Geoffrey Lewis is believably absurd as the local with a harnessed horsefly escort and a mysterious vial. And the Lady Chablis ("I got it off a wine bottle") is infinitely entertaining and perfectly natural as... herself.

Probably the less one knows about this film going in the better, but I will say that it might contain what I believe is Clint's only foray into the (alluded) supernatural since 1985's PALE RIDER. Four stars.

-Sean Gill

Junta Juleil's Summer '10 Movie Series
1. HELL IN THE PACIFIC (1968, John Boorman)
2. KUFFS (1992, Bruce A. Evans)
3. THE OUTFIT (1973, John Flynn)

4. FOR Y'UR HEIGHT ONLY (1981, Eddie Nicart)

5. A*P*E (1976, Paul Leder)

6. BLIND FURY (1989, Philip Noyce)
7. HIS KIND OF WOMAN (1951, John Farrow)
8. HIGH SCHOOL U.S.A. (1983, Rod Amateau)
9. DR. JEKYLL AND MS. HYDE (1995, David Price)
10. MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL (1997, Clint Eastwood)
11. ...

Film Review: FLESH + BLOOD (1985, Paul Verhoeven)

Stars: 5 of 5. Running Time: 128 minutes. Notable Cast or Crew: Rutger Hauer (BLADE RUNNER, THE HITCHER), Jennifer Jason Leigh (FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, MARGOT AT THE WEDDING), Susan Tyrrell (FAT CITY, CRY-BABY), Brion James (BLADE RUNNER, SOUTHERN COMFORT), Ronald Lacey (Toht in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK), Tom Burlinson (THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER), Bruno Kirby (Young Clemenza in THE GODFATHER PART II), Jack Thompson (BREAKER MORANT, SHORT CIRCUIT). Cinematography by Jan de Bont (who went on to direct TWISTER and SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL). Tag-line: "A timeless adventure, a passion for wealth and power. Only the strongest will survive." Best one-liner: "From now on, we'll eat like this. And whoever can't, best stay the stupid asshole he always was!"  

 I'll begin with two quotes by Paul Verhoeven which seem apropos to this film: "People love seeing violence and horrible things. The human being is bad and he can't stand more than five minutes of happiness. Put him in a dark theater and ask him to look at two hours of happiness and he'd walk out or fall asleep." and "Remember that Christianity is a religion grounded in one of the most violent acts of murder, the crucifixion. Otherwise, religion wouldn't have had any kind of impact." A lot of people like to pin down Paul Verhoeven as 'the guy who did SHOWGIRLS,' and while he cannot erase the fact that he is indeed guilty of being the guy who did SHOWGIRLS, he's one of the most audacious filmmakers to emerge from post-WWII Europe. FLESH + BLOOD is Machiavellian power games, stillborn children, nun snipers, yellowed teeth, and dogs lapping up pools of diseased gore. This movie is absolutely brutal. 

 

Every single character looks out for number one, and here, 'looking out for number one' means ripping an earring (and a chunk of flesh) from a woman as she's being raped or using 'God's word' when it's to your liking (Verhoeven has called organized religion a symptom of societal schizophrenia). Any time there's a moment for levity or genuine romance, it's immediately undercut by something like the rotting genitals or random carrion. 

 

Take a gander at this lovely idyll, for instance. 

 

It’s not exactly a historically accurate depiction of medieval warfare and the Black Death, and it doesn't quite take place in the 14th Century... sixty years ago it took place on the battlefields of Europe. Verhoeven was just a kid then, but he was there. As we speak, it's being waged by talking heads on TV, by hypocrites behind closed doors, and by vicious opportunists from here to the far corners of the world. Where an exploitation flick would insert a rape scene so the viewer might feel 'morally superior,' Verhoeven stages sexual assault as a grotesque vortex of ever-shifting power dynamics between man, woman, and the collective.

   

The performances are outstanding: Susan Tyrrell was born to do the Dark Ages––she enters the scene as a bawdy, pregnant, perpetually wasted camp follower whose life is a series of the highest, barbaric highs and the lowest, 'WHY ME?' lows:

  

Brion James is pure animal, ruthless but bewildered:  

But mostly terrifying as all get-out. 

 

   

Brion James makes the evolutionary leap to using forks and knives. 

 

Ronald Lacey is the sinister Cardinal- malicious, but sincere (not that it matters when he's got his sword in your guts):

  

Jack Thompson is the beleaguered hunter, embodying an almost Peckinpah-style morality (think Robert Ryan in THE WILD BUNCH):

   

Clearly the Medieval equivalent of "I'm gettin' too old for this shit!" 

 

and Tom Burlinson is the man of science, but his singlemindedness gives way to a sanctimonious depravity.

  

Rutger Hauer simmers and scowls- a calculating, towheaded, serpentine fiend, rapist, and murderer who might be the closest thing we've got to a traditional 'hero.'  

Though sainthood is more than a stretch. 

   

And ain't this a surreal fucken sight: a BLADE RUNNER reunion! (Not to mention that Brion James is giving Rutger Hauer a goddamned wheelbarrow ride!) 

 

Jennifer Jason Leigh- in possibly her finest performance- is a privileged, maid-beating blueblood who attends the condottiere's ‘school of hard knocks’ and emerges as perhaps the most complex and guileful of the bunch.

  

Nihilistic ‘entertainment’ at its best: five stars, and my highest recommendation.

Film Review: BROKEN ARROW (1996, John Woo)

Stars: 4 of 5.
Running Time: 108 minutes.

Notable Cast or Crew: John Travolta, Christian Slater, Delroy Lindo, Samantha Mathis, Frank Whaley (of PULP FICTION and GLAM), Howie Long (of those delightful ads with Teri Hatcher), Hans Zimmer (whose soundtrack for this flick is vaguely ripped off by Rodriguez's PLANET TERROR soundtrack), Graham Yost (writer of SPEED whose career was later derailed by SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL and co-writing the brilliant MISSION TO MARS), Peter Levy (the fine cinematographer from PREDATOR 2 and NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 5), Mark Riccardi (Travolta's 90's & 00's stunt double on everything from GET SHORTY to BATTLEFIELD EARTH), plus we even got the Dad from THAT 70'S SHOW and RAMBO III (Kurtwood Smith).

Tag-line: "PREPARE...TO GO...BALLISTIC."
Best one-liner(s): "Alright, you're bleeding, aren't ya? Well, that's good. Let's see if we can get any more out of you."

"You're out of your mind." "Yeah...ain't it cool?" Damn. Look at that poster. Slater wants to be in the limelight, but Travolta is having none of it. This is causing Slater to slightly raise his right eyebrow. More on that later. John Woo comes stateside for the second time, the first being HARD TARGET with Van Damme. Let's look at the Woo hallmarks: Slow motion? Check. Hero firing two guns at once and sliding downward? Check. Gun slowly being loaded in closeup? Check. Hero seeing the reflection of the baddie aiming a gun at him? Check. Two well-developed characters clashing with great determination? Check. Mexican standoff? Check. The Slater factor? Check. Wait, WHUTTT?!

You can't believe your ears? The SLATER FACTOR. Yeah, that's right. The Slater factor is very high here. The eyebrows and smarmy Nicholson voice are in full force. But what comes out of left field is Travolta stealing a great deal of the limelight from the Slater factor.

He's developed one of the most bizarrely gleeful, subtly feminized, and totally whacky antagonists to ever appear in one of these types of films. The man is having so much fun playing a villain and finally getting to sling about malevolent one-liners that you can't help but smile every moment he's on screen.


In fact, either Travolta or Slater are on screen for almost every frame of the entire movie, so the odds are the viewer will be beside themselves with youthful giddiness for the duration. Throw in a brilliant Hans Zimmer soundtrack, chemistry with ex-Slater PUMP UP THE VOLUME-era squeeze Samantha Mathis (Mathis later said that being romantic with Slater in this film was "like kissing your brother"), beautiful Southwestern landscapes, and the under-appreciated Delroy Lindo, and you've got yourself a splendid little way to spend the afternoon.

-Sean Gill