Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)

An intriguing title, an Academy Award winning director and a good cast are not always enough for a great movie and this is the case with Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The title possesses enough mystical feeling. Director Clint Eastwood is a legendary figure in the world of cinema. Kevin Spacey, John Cusack and Jude Law are enough for labelling every film's cast as at least decent. Yet, this is not among the best directorial efforts of Eastwood, neither it is amongst the best movies in Spacey's, Cusack's or Law's careers. All of them have been involved in better projects but it won't be fair if we completely dismiss this film cause it has its own merits despite not being a classic motion picture.

The movie is based on the best-selling book by the same name by John Berendt, which is based on real-life events that have taken place in the 1980s. John Kelso (John Cusack) is a reporter from New York City who has a small assignment in Savannah, Georgia. John's task is to write a short article about the famous Christmas parties held by Jim Williams (Kevin Spacey). Williams is a famous Savannah's millionaire, antiques dealer and art collector who has a homosexual relationship with young and sexy punk Billy Hanson (Jude Law). Soon, Billy is shot by Jim and Kelso decides to stay and write a book about his new friend in the face of Jim Williams.

Along the inevitable murder trial we meet a bunch of interesting characters. The Lady Chablis is a transsexual local drag queen, which brings a scent of humor in the movie. Witch Minerva is the primary responsible for the mystic filling of the film. We see Geoffrey Lewis in the role of a man who caries flies attached to himself everywhere and threatens to poison Savannah's water. And in the park, we come across a man who seems to walk around just a dog's leash (without the dog).

The main issue of the movie is that it leaves a lot of the events not well explained. We do not understand why John Kelso has been chosen to write about Jim's party. The exact motives of Billy's murder are spared. And the ending is also hugely open to interpretations. It could be considered all of this vagueness adds to the mysticism of the film but at the same time it prevents us from full enjoyment of the narrative. Williams' trial is also not very convincing as both of the sides have not backed up their pleadings well. Finally, there are a few subplots that are brought to a quick resolution at the end and their precipitated denouement does not fit in the movie quite naturally.

Now for the good parts... The major virtue of the film is the panoramic depiction of Savannah's lovely architecture along with its eccentricity and obscurity. There are beautiful buildings and references to the city's history and famous people. There are a lot of odd and colorful characters. The cinematography is pleasant for watching. And one can almost sense the atmosphere of the town.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is not near the quality of Unforgiven or some of Clint Eastwood's 21st century films. We usually expect more when his name is involved in a movie but this film although not among Eastwood's best is definitely worth seeing even if only because of the beautiful presentation of Savannah. The story is decent. And if you do not set your expectations too high it's possible to like the movie in its entirety.

Say Anything... (1989): A Distraction with Potential

If you don't like selling, buying or processing anything as a career, your only option seems to be kickboxing. Except for making a girl happy. As a career... As strange as this may sound, it's pretty much the main idea of Say Anything.... The movie has been turning itself into a romantic comedy classic over the years. And it has plenty to offer apart from its strangeness. Being directorial debut of Cameron Crowe (who is also the writer), the film deserves even more praise for its good execution and the freshness it provides. Say Anything... tells a conventional story with an unconventional approach and even at moments when the film lacks originality it is not boring at all.

The movie is a romantic teen comedy and this says a lot about its plot. But Say Anything... is also capable of surprises. The usual role of the more mature and purposeful partner in the relationship this time is given to the girl. The boy is the person who wants to dedicate his future to the woman. Lloyd (John Cusack) is a pretty simple guy who possesses the important knowledge he doesn't know what he wants to make with his life so after having a chance to spend some time with Diane (Ione Skye) he decides that making her happy is probably a good (if not the best) job for him. Diane is the valedictorian of her class who has won a scholarship for a famous college in England but after meeting with Lloyd she does not only find love for the first time but she also discovers beauty in the simple things.

Say Anything... sports many qualitative dialogues with plenty of memorable lines. A few examples could be Lloyd's thoughts on the "choosing a career" topic, the "being friends with potential" conversation and "I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen" quote but there is a lot more of ordinary, yet clever and effective talking throughout the movie. The writing does not offer any unexpected twists or a genuine plotline. What makes it good though, lies in the details as the already mentioned dialogues or the particular events that happen. The film is also spared from the cheap teenage humor plaguing the majority of other similar movies, which is a big plus for it.

The cast of Say Anything... is worthy as well. John Cusack makes one of his best performances and the scene showing him standing with a boombox in front of Diane's house is probably among his most memorable ones. Ione Skye is charming as Diane Court and John Mahoney is wonderful as her father James Court. Lili Taylor in the role of Corey, one of the female friends of Lloyd Dobler, portrays an interesting character although being a bit annoying with her constant talking and self-written 65 songs about her ex Joe. Cameron Crowe, except for the good writing job, should also be admired for the entire filmmaking of this movie including directing.

Of course, Say Anything... is not void of imperfections. The main plot is unoriginal. There are some scenes and characters that are not must-haves. Some of the events and a big part of the narrative although being possible are not among the most probable things to happen. But does someone really care about such flaws if the movie is entertaining and makes you a teenager again having a strong empathy with the screen couple? Do not say anything... If you love romcoms, this one is for you.

The Grifters (1990): A Critically Acclaimed Movie You Can Skip

The Grifters is a movie with strong acting. Among the actors and actresses listed in its cast, the film has names like Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening and John Cusack. Certainly, the movie does not sport the best performances ever but its 2 Oscar nominations in acting categories could give you a hint about this aspect of the film. The Grifters has also 2 other Academy Award nominations, for Best Director and Best (Adapted) Screenplay. Now, these two have not been deservedly given. But before we go in details, let's make a brief summary of the plot.

The Grifters is about Roy Dillon (John Cusack), a small-time grifter, his alienated mother Lilly Dillon (Anjelica Huston) and his girlfriend Myra Langtry (Annette Bening), the latter two being grifters themselves but on a far higher-stakes level. Lilly accidentally visits her son only to find out that he has been beaten in a result of an unsuccessful job. She hospitalizes him and saves his life but Roy is not happy to see Lilly even after her good deed. His mother does not like Roy's girlfriend Myra and that additionally strains their relations. Because of the spent time in the hospital, Lilly fails to fulfil a job for her boss, a big-time bookie. Subsequently, this leads to serious problems for her too. Myra tries to convince Roy to become a bigger swindler but he has some reservations about it. As a result everyone becomes suspicious of everyone and additional complications follow.

The plot outline of The Grifters may seem interesting and in fact, it is, for an hour at least. But as the film progresses everything become a mess not only in the characters' relationships but also in the movie itself. The actions of the protagonists and especially the Dillons become more and more chaotic and not well motivated. The son begins to wonder whether to drop cheating or not without any strong reason. The mother that has faced serious consequences because of saving her son, all of a sudden, starts treating him almost like an enemy. Some incest insinuations appear without any good explanation or confirmation. And finally, The Grifters reaches almost to a dead end for both, the characters and the audience. We will skip any deeper criticism of these issues because to elaborate more upon them will mean to completely ruin the movie for you.

Another issue of this film is that Anjelica Huston, although acting very well and in reality being at the right age for the role of Lilly in the movie, seems, for whatever reason, a bit older in The Grifters, which is not good having in mind Lilly is supposed to be a glaringly young mother. Additional problem could be that some of the con jobs seen in the movie are not explained well enough in order even people without an idea about that kind of stuff to get effortlessly their meaning.

As a whole, The Grifters appears somehow pointless. There is not real character development. There is not a message. If the purpose of the movie is to show us how several supposed to be strong criminals transform themselves in a bunch of unhinged people, the goal is not achieved. If the intention of the film has been to announce that shit happens, then it could be deemed successful but still, it does not make the movie any better and there are a lot of other movies that deliver it in a better way.

We can see where the critical acclaim of The Grifters comes from. The acting is good. The film has a very potent premise and during most of its time span the movie and characters are interesting. There are also some plot twists although they are pretty much forced and not very believable. Maybe The Grifters is even based on a good novel (unfortunately unknown to us). But although the film is not all bad, chances are high you'll feel like being grifted after the ending.

Browse through our Review Maze to read other movie articles.