Truly demonstrated in this film as the story takes place in Savannah, Georgia, one of the oldest established southern states in the USA. As John Cusack told his nagging agent on the phone, they walk imaginary pets here, they're all heavily armed and they're all drunk. This is definitely a strange movie with a very misleading title and yet surprisingly satisfying!
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SYNOPSIS: Based on John Berendt's best-selling book of the same title, the movie is a dramatised account of true events surrounding a murder case in Savannah. An enthusiastic journalist for Town & Country magazine from New York is assigned to write on a high-classed elitist party thrown by a wealthy proprietor Mr. James Williams. The millionaire is subsequently accused of the murder of his gay lover and the journalist stays on to investigate the matter as he plans to write a book about it. Fascinated as he already is by the southern mannerisms and idiosyncrasies, the city-slicker never expected to meet even more colourful characters, some of which include an African voodoo witch, an over-protective lawyer, a beautiful and mysterious blonde, a mentally unsound juror and a very likeable drag queen.
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CAST: John Cusack's stoic and rather boring portrayal of John Kelso, a disorientated big city reporter in a country state is necessarily vital to the movie to contrast all the quirky people around him. Kevin Spacey is maginificent as Jim Williams and this is a performance which surpasses American Beauty and Usual Suspects, though I think he was always best in K-Pax. Pundits note that he even nailed the most convincing southern twang in the film compared to the rest of the cast. It is interesting to mention here that the drag queen in the film is a real lfe one who hosts her own charity shows in Savannah. No surprise then why I thought she was acting a litle *too* well.
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MOST MEMORABLE LINE: I'm thinking it could be when the drag queen was consoling herself and said "Well, It's like my mother always said -two tears in a bucket, motherfuck it." but one hell of a lasting impression was made when near the end of the film, Jim Williams was pressed by Kelso on what really happened and replied "Sport, truth, like art, is in the eye of the beholder. You believe what you choose and I'll believe what I know."
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BEST SCENE: Can't really pick one out because this film is more like a documentary-type narrative and each scene is just as important as the next. Having said that, the first scene at the graveyard is quite memorable as it shows the ignorant Kelso in facing Minerva, the voodoo practitioner.
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IMDB RATING: 6.4/10
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MY RATING: 7/10
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I haven't read the book but this must be a very good adaptation of it since there are no complaints against Eastwood for it. I am also guessing that this movie is being marketed all the time by Savannah's tourism board since the landscape and setting is just so exquisite and that has worked very well for the texture of this film as well. Every line is coherent with the flow and it can afford to be slow without being boring. All you need to do is watch the scenes with Kelso and Lady Chablis and fall in love with the conversation, the place and ultimately, the movie.
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VERDICT: For a lazy night in and if you're looking for a movie which isn't senseless action and yet doesn't require deep contemplation either, buy it! It's less than a fiver now on eBay. Plus if you have a multi-region player, buy the Region1 version with loads of DVD extras I don't imagine would come with the Region2 version.