Review: Kalifornia

Journo David Duchovny and his pretentious photographer girlfriend Michelle Forbes plan a road trip to California through Texas and Arkansas, with Duchovny hoping to stop at various destinations that are home to brutal serial murders, his favourite subject. She can take the pictures, he can write the text and hopefully a book will spring forth and make lots of money. Asking for someone to join and share in the travel/petrol expenses, his ad is responded to by Early Grayce (Brad Pitt) an uncouth and seemingly unwashed hick ex-con, who brings his brow-beaten, dopey girlfriend Adele (Juliette Lewis) along for the ride. Forbes’ Carrie is immediately dismissive and derisive of these lower-class hicks (but feels pity for the physically abused Adele), but Early seems to arouse something in Duchovny’s Brian (Early teaches Brian how to shoot a gun, for instance). That’s because what Brian doesn’t know is that Early is a brutal, soulless killer, and he’s gonna give the rather naïve writer one helluva up close and personal story with a real murderer.

 

Almost a good movie, this 1993 serial killer road movie from debutant director Dominic Sena (who went on to the abysmal wank-job “Swordfish”, and his mild best film to date “Season of the Witch”) and screenwriter Tim Metcalfe (“Revenge of the Nerds”, “Fright Night II”, “Bones”, “Haunting in Connecticut”) is certainly miles ahead of Oliver Stone’s appalling “Natural Born Killers” from the following year, and even manages to make that film’s co-star Juliette Lewis less annoying than usual here. Certainly far less annoying than she was in “Natural Born Killers” at any rate.

 

Frankly I think Michelle Forbes has a really unpleasant, cold presence on screen that does not evoke sympathy at all, and it hurts the film. David Duchovny is better and well-cast, but these are rather cold fish, yuppies really, and not of much interest to me as protagonists. I mean just look at Forbes’ hairdo for cryin’ out loud. It screams yuppie abstract artist all day long (Turns out she’s an artsy yuppie photographer, but never mind). I also don’t buy Forbes as someone who would associate with a writer on true crime and serial killers. There’s just no way she’d get romantically involved with someone like that, I’m not even sure he’d earn enough money to keep a woman like her (Then again, yuppies or not, they seem strapped for cash early on, so maybe they’re just pretentious, not necessarily affluent).

 

Most of the reason to see this film is clearly Brad Pitt, giving one of his best-ever performances as the chief antagonist. In fact, Forbes’ best scenes are with him, as there’s an awful lot going on there than meets the eye. As far as I’m concerned this was the first real performance Pitt ever gave, and the last good one until “Se7en”. In fact, with Pitt getting deep inside this animalistic character, it’s the better performance of the two, if nowhere near as good a film as “Se7en” was. Pitt really goes all out with this grotty, bearded redneck masculinity, but with clearly something broken inside. I bet he never showered during filming, either. He just seems like the type, and you can almost smell the grot and the grime. Yuck. He’s filthy, and thanks to Pitt’s excellent performance, fascinating, dangerously unpredictable, and maybe even charismatic (Certainly he is to the Duchovny character). Call me crazy, but I think Pitt was robbed of an Oscar nomination for this terrific, lively turn. Juliette Lewis is an acquired taste to say the least. To me, she always gives variations on the same whiny hick performance in every film, it’s just a matter of whether she’s playing whiny and dumb/naïve hick (this film, “Cape Fear”, “Christmas Vacation”) or whiny and shrieking hellcat hick (“Natural Born Killers”, “Strange Days”). She suits this film and this poor, unfortunate character like no other she has played before. It’s easily her best work. Wow, I actually paid her a compliment, someone should mark that down, it doesn’t happen often. She plays redneck moron convincingly, undoubtedly. She’s such an annoying, pathetic character, though, that you have to wonder if the only reason why Pitt puts up with her is because she does everything he says unquestioningly. He also beats her, so there’s that, too. These two are a perfect pair of white trash, and the most vivid and interesting thing about the film. Special mention must also go to cinematographer Bojan Bazelli (“Pumpkinhead”, “Deep Cover”, “Body Snatchers”), who does one helluva job in the opening scene especially, it’s wonderfully stormy and full of shadow and light. It’s definitely the director’s best-looking film.

 

Just shy of being a good film, but Pitt’s mesmerising performance deserved more attention that it really got, if you ask me. Oh, if only the film’s protagonists grabbed you a bit more, the film could’ve been a real winner. The screenplay is based on a story by Metcalfe and Stephen Levy. An interesting near-miss, but still much more successful in dealing with the media’s fascination with killers than the unwatchable “Natural Born Killers”. Oh, and some 20 odd years later, I still have no freakin’ idea why the title is misspelled. Any thoughts?

 

Rating: C+