Amazon.com
In the real world, drug use is unimaginably boring to watch--but it inspires spectacular visuals in movies like
Trainspotting and
Drugstore Cowboy. To this list add
The Salton Sea, a moody thriller starring Val Kilmer as a musician who goes undercover into the world of speed freaks to find the men who killed his wife. Though that plot summary may sound trite, creative direction, strong performances, and a solid script that shifts to and fro in time make
The Salton Sea worth a look. Kilmer has an erratic track record but he's always an intriguing on-screen presence; Vincent D'Onofrio has a field day playing a noseless speed dealer called Pooh Bear. The cast is full of excellent character actors, including Anthony LaPaglia (
Lantana), Peter Sarsgaard (
Boys Don't Cry), B.D. Wong (
Jurassic Park), Deborah Kara Unger (
Crash), Adam Goldberg (
Saving Private Ryan), and Luis Guzman (
The Limey).
--Bret Fetzer
From The New Yorker
A noirish, down-and-out Los Angeles apartment; tattooed meth-heads freaking at endless parties; a lonely trumpet player sitting in a building on fire-the young director D. J. Caruso is a romantic rhapsodist of squalor and disaster. His material is morose, self-pitying, and pretentious, but the picture is absorbing nonetheless and generally well-acted. Val Kilmer gives a grimly witty performance as the seemingly defeated hero, a man who has suffered loss and is seeking revenge. Vincent D'Onofrio goes over the top as a sadistic drug dealer who has snorted away his nose (he's got a plastic one), and virtually every hip actor remaining in Hollywood can be found burrowing in one dark corner or another. Screenplay by Tony Gayton. See it very late at night. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006
The New Yorker