Nothing is As it Seems
Written: Dec 21 '02 (Updated Dec 21 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Val Kilmer. Very Stylish. Keeps you guessing.
Cons: The first time is the best time. Repeated viewings do not hold up.
The Bottom Line: This is sure to become an underground film noir classic.
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| nolan_j_sephoy's Full Review: The Salton Sea |
Val Kilmer is one of America’s finest actors. Yet not a lot of people know this because he seems to be so damn self-destructive. After making himself a mega-superstar with his outstanding portrayal of Jim Morrison in The Doors, he decided to pick and choose his roles very carefully because he was more interested in raising a family with his actress wife Joanne Whaley-Kilmer. Unfortunately, that meant convenient roles as opposed to good ones. So, while opportunity passed him by he remained loyal to his wife, picking small roles perhaps one a year so he could devote his time to his family. Then his wife left him. Kilmer has never shown any hostility to this fact. He has custody of his two children and is raising them on a ranch in New Mexico far away from Hollywood. His performances lately have been very limited appearing in only a handful of films many of them independent art house films.
This past May a film was released in Art Houses that starred Kilmer entitled The Salton Sea. This film was scheduled for major released in mid-October 2001, then of course in September our country was attacked and naturally violent, gut wrenching films were not in much demand. The film was pushed back to December and then until May. It opened on about a thousand screens nationwide and its competition the weekend it opened was a little film called Spiderman that I heard somewhere did pretty well. I don’t know I personally never heard of this film “Spiderman”. Is that what’s its called?
About a week and a half later a movie called “Star Wars” (is that right?) opened. These two major motion pictures blew The Salton Sea out of the water. The film did extremely well in the markets it was released in: New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc. But believe it or not it did not crack the top ten blockbusters of the summer. Which is a shame because as much as I enjoyed Star Wars and Spiderman, The Salton Sea put them both to shame.
The Salton Sea is a rare film. It’s constantly challenging yet entertaining it’s audience. I will give you a very sketchy overview of the film because the less you know about it the more you enjoy watching it unfurl. Kilmer plays a character, two characters actually. One a speed freak named Danny Parker. Danny is a rat. He’s turning his dealers and his junkie friends over to two Narcotics officers named Morgan and Garcetti (Doug Hutchinson and Anthony LaPaglia). Danny is a pretty pathetic character. Covered in tattoos and sporting a Mohawk he spends his time with his “tweaker” buddies drinking beer and snorting speed during four day long binges. Danny then goes out and scores speed for his friends, then turns the dealer in to the police. A true weasel in deed.
The two cops don’t necessarily like Danny. Neither one seems too concerned that a Mexican drug cartel is after Danny for turning in one of their dealers and Garcetti especially seems to hate Danny. But neither Morgan nor Garcetti can argue that Danny has not done a good job for them.
Then there is Tom Van Allen a Jazz Trumpeter. People associated with the Los Angeles speed scene killed Tom’s wife awhile back at the Salton Sea. Tom is lost and desperate without her and wants vengeance. Has Tom become Danny? Or has Danny become Tom? Or are Danny and Tom two completely independent personalities?
No matter, Danny’s got problems on his hands. Mexican gangsters want his head, he’s being followed constantly by a mysterious BMW with a license plate that reads: I Forgiv, and he’s mixed up with a Chinese Red Neck named Bubba. Danny needs to get out of Dodge and quickly. Figuring his best way is to set up one last drug deal and take his cut and split, Danny enlist the help of his closest friend, Jimmy the Finn (Peter Sarsgaard). Jimmy hooks Danny up with Pooh Bear (Vincent D’onofrio) an extremely dangerous speed dealer who is willing to deal with Bubba using Danny as an intermediary. But is Bubba using Danny or is Danny ultimately using Bubba?
Confused?
That’s the point. The film is completely confusing. Mix in a damsel in distress neighbor (the sultry Derborah Kara Unger) and her abusive boyfriend (Luiz Guzman) and you have a confusing film noir.
From the get go we are told by Kilmer that we must decide who his character is. Is he the Avenging Angel Tom Van Allen or the Judas Iscariot Danny Parker? As the story unfolds there is one twist after another, after another. Even in the last three scenes there still plot twists. You find yourself sitting watching the credits waiting for yet another twist. And then you see another one: Meat Loaf. Yes, Meat Loaf makes a very brief cameo (see if you can pick him out) and gets top billing for it!
No one can be trusted in the Salton Sea. Well, almost no one; Danny’s friend Jimmy the Finn is the only truly human character in the film. Truly human in that Jimmy is totally vulnerable and sad. He needs Danny and loves him unconditionally. So much that he gets Danny’s likeness tattooed to his left arm. There is a very telling scene concerning Jimmy and Danny’s relationship. They visit Pooh Bear, a drug dealer who is also a speed freak. Pooh Bear has done so much speed that his nose has become so deteriorated that it had to be surgically removed. When the two arrive at Pooh Bear’s compound they find that he is re-enacting the Kennedy assassination using pelt guns, a remote control car and pigeons decked out in suits and pink pill box hats (for Jackie O). Danny has a very tense meeting with Pooh Bear and on the return trip sits in Jimmy’s car looking as if he were mentally raped. Jimmy asks Danny, “What does JFK stand for?” Danny responds, “John Fitzgerald Kennedy.”
Jimmy: And he was president?
Danny: Yes.
Jimmy: And he was killed?
Danny: (nods) thy assassinated him.
Jimmy takes it all in then says, “Hey, Danny. Thanks for not laughing at me.” In that scene it’s obvious why Jimmy loves Danny so much. Danny is the only person who ever treated Jimmy like a human being and didn’t ridicule him. It’ clear that in this mess of double crosses the only one who is what he seems is Jimmy the Finn. Everyone else on the other hand, well, who knows?
The film is incredibly cool and stylish. Along with Tom/Danny’s story there are little vignettes that entertain while moving the plot along. So as a comprehensive history of speed, the Delay Plaza with pigeon re-enactment at Pooh Bears and best of all a plot to steal Bob Hope’s stool sample so it could be sold on E Bay.
The film is well paced and incredibly dark and cool at the same time. The ultimate film chill out/drug song is Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” which is included in this film but is presented karaoke style by a geriatric in a wheel chair croaking, “Molly can from Miami F-L-A/ hitch hiked her way across the USA”
Not only is stylistically the film superb but it avoids falling into any cliches. At first Kilmer’s relationship with the abused Unger seems as if it will end predictably but there is a twist and then another twist. Cliched is one thing this film is not.
The acting is also incredible. This is Kilmer’s best role since he upstaged both Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino in Heat. Throughout the film Kilmer is riveting, but it’s the way he plays Danny’s/Tom’s final act of betrayal/vengeance without words that is truly astounding here. Just a look in his eyes and the way he carries himself through the final act makes the entire film worth the journey. Hutchinson and LaPaglia are solid as usual. Oz’s BD Wong makes an offbeat appearance as a Chinese Good Ol’ Boy who drives a pick up truck with his own likeness airbrushed on the side. Unger is smoky sexy and fragile at the same time. Luis Guzman once again dutifully shows up as the stereotypical angry fat Hispanic. This guy is the fat Puerto Rican in every movie/TV Show/Mini-Series that has called for a fat Puerto Rican. From Boogie Nights to Q & A to every other episode of Miami Vice if you need a shady looking Hispanic Luis Guzman is your man. “Mister Spielberg, we need an overweight, dangerous looking Hispanic for the role of Cortez.” Spielberg sighs, “Okay, call Central Casting and get Luis Guzman’s agent on the phone!”
But it is D’Onofrio who steals the show as the very sadistic Pooh Bear. Pooh Bear wears a plastic nose because his had to be removed. He’s also a fat slob who wears skater clothes that he definitely should not wear, but they do go along with his horrible farmer’s tan and his bleached blonde hair. Pooh Bear also likes to feed the still attached genitals of people he believes are working for the police to a rabid badger named Captain Stubing.
Overall this film has it all. An ultra-cool feel, terrific acting and twist and turns that keep you guessing. But, Spiderman did have Kirsten Dunst’s wet tee shirt scene. That merits Spiderman making about six billion more dollars that this stylish film noir.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
nolan_j_sephoy
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Member: Joe Boylan
Location: Philadelphia, PA USA
Reviews written: 65
Trusted by: 9 members
About Me:
You know finger prints are just like snowflakes, they're both very pretty.
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