Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil
(B- or 2.5/4 stars)
'Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil' (directed by Clint Eastwood, & based on a best-selling novel) is the story of NY journalist John Kelso (John Cusack), who travels to Savannah, Georgia when 'Town & Country' magazine hires him to write a column about the apparently-sensational annual Christmas bash held by self-made millionaire art collector/antique dealer, Jim Williams (Kevin Spacey). After a meet & greet with Jim's lawyer, Sonny Seiler (Jack Thompson), John meets Jim, who turns out to be a debonair gentleman with out-of-left-field tastes. And John is then given a tour of Jim's luxurious house (for the magazine). Over the course of the next day, as he waits for this big bash to commence, John continues to be intrigued by Jim, & meets some VERY colorful locals, as well: a man who keeps flies attached to mini-leashes on his lapels, the Married Ladies Card Club, a man who walks an imaginary dog, a sexy young torch singer named Mandy (Alison Eastwood, Clint's daughter), an eccentric house-crashing attorney (Joe Odom), & the impetuous Billy Hanson (Jude Law), who is Jim's secret lover.
Then, in the blink of an eye, after a party, when John is ready to drag himself back to his temporary home, the drama of this film shifts into a scandalous murder story. Jim appears to have shot Billy Hanson under mysterious conditions; & whether or not he's guilty is up to a Savannah jury. Due to this, John's short article assignment suddenly has potential for a full-on book; and he begins his own investigation of the 'murder'. Throughout this investigation, John's detective work leads him to 2 more eccentric citizens of Savannah: delightful drag queen comedienne Lady Chablis (playing herself), & Minerva (Irma P. Hall), the town's outrageous voodoo priestess; whose midnight graveyard rituals only add to the mystique of Savannah, as well as the mystery of Billy Hanson's murder.
'MitGoG&E' works best as a panoramic tale of Savannah's eccentricities. The moody Southern setting. The beautiful architecture. The flora & fauna. The remarkable Savannah citizens. Their strange way of life. Loved it all. Yes, there is a murder investigation at the center of the story. But I definitely latched onto the plethora of characters & subplots to get me through the bloated 2 hour & 32 minute running time (yes, you read that correctly). Kevin Spacey is excellent as the charismatic, if secretive murderer-in-question. Australian Jack Thompson entertained me as the football-loving lawyer. Irma P. Hall is a hoot as the voodoo specialist. And Lady Chablis is fabulous as the good-natured, if profane transvestite who befriends John. She has little significance to the main story (a perpetual issue, here), but I was always happy to see her pop-up whenever she did. The performances & 'peripherals' of the story got me through the running time.
I would say that a theme of the film would be the 'good & evil' that John Kelso feels as he questions Jim's innocence/guilt. For John, Jim (and everyone else) may or may not who they appear to be. But as mentioned, the film is more an embarrassment of quirky riches than it is a cohesive film. You know, Clint Eastwood is something else. Just when you think he's one type of storyteller, here comes something vastly different from anything he's done before (heck, his last film, Bridges of Madison County was a tearjerker). This film is a long, moody novel adaptation involving a murder. Polar opposites.
Ultimately, 'MitGoG&E' offers fantastic 'elements' of characterization, small town expose, lust, murder, betrayal, voodoo, & various other voyeuristic oddities. But there is an awful lot of padding in this film that could have been cut out or streamlined to provide a smoother, more engaging overall product. I mean, entire scenes (however entertaining they are or not) that have nothing to do with anything clog up the screen too many times. i.e., John Cusack is fine, but an unexciting protagonist; and his start-stop affair with the blonde torch singer is a mushy hindrance to the main plot. Too often, the narrative tension came to a halt (rhythmless), & the colorful tangents within the story excited me more than either the love affair or even the standard Perry Mason-ish murder trial ... and that shouldn't be.
Then, in the blink of an eye, after a party, when John is ready to drag himself back to his temporary home, the drama of this film shifts into a scandalous murder story. Jim appears to have shot Billy Hanson under mysterious conditions; & whether or not he's guilty is up to a Savannah jury. Due to this, John's short article assignment suddenly has potential for a full-on book; and he begins his own investigation of the 'murder'. Throughout this investigation, John's detective work leads him to 2 more eccentric citizens of Savannah: delightful drag queen comedienne Lady Chablis (playing herself), & Minerva (Irma P. Hall), the town's outrageous voodoo priestess; whose midnight graveyard rituals only add to the mystique of Savannah, as well as the mystery of Billy Hanson's murder.
'MitGoG&E' works best as a panoramic tale of Savannah's eccentricities. The moody Southern setting. The beautiful architecture. The flora & fauna. The remarkable Savannah citizens. Their strange way of life. Loved it all. Yes, there is a murder investigation at the center of the story. But I definitely latched onto the plethora of characters & subplots to get me through the bloated 2 hour & 32 minute running time (yes, you read that correctly). Kevin Spacey is excellent as the charismatic, if secretive murderer-in-question. Australian Jack Thompson entertained me as the football-loving lawyer. Irma P. Hall is a hoot as the voodoo specialist. And Lady Chablis is fabulous as the good-natured, if profane transvestite who befriends John. She has little significance to the main story (a perpetual issue, here), but I was always happy to see her pop-up whenever she did. The performances & 'peripherals' of the story got me through the running time.
I would say that a theme of the film would be the 'good & evil' that John Kelso feels as he questions Jim's innocence/guilt. For John, Jim (and everyone else) may or may not who they appear to be. But as mentioned, the film is more an embarrassment of quirky riches than it is a cohesive film. You know, Clint Eastwood is something else. Just when you think he's one type of storyteller, here comes something vastly different from anything he's done before (heck, his last film, Bridges of Madison County was a tearjerker). This film is a long, moody novel adaptation involving a murder. Polar opposites.
Ultimately, 'MitGoG&E' offers fantastic 'elements' of characterization, small town expose, lust, murder, betrayal, voodoo, & various other voyeuristic oddities. But there is an awful lot of padding in this film that could have been cut out or streamlined to provide a smoother, more engaging overall product. I mean, entire scenes (however entertaining they are or not) that have nothing to do with anything clog up the screen too many times. i.e., John Cusack is fine, but an unexciting protagonist; and his start-stop affair with the blonde torch singer is a mushy hindrance to the main plot. Too often, the narrative tension came to a halt (rhythmless), & the colorful tangents within the story excited me more than either the love affair or even the standard Perry Mason-ish murder trial ... and that shouldn't be.