Edward Norton is one of my favorite actors. His range is astounding; just watch the underrated Death to Smoochy , then American History X , back to back. Norton's performances are like a fat onion blossom, with peelable layer upon layer in his artful absorption of each character role he assumes.
Down in the Valley shows his talent off beautifully in this quietly disturbing psychological thriller starring the two time Oscar nom Norton with ingénue Evan Rachel Wood. There are solid performances by David Morse who plays Wade, Tobe's father, a great cameo by Bruce Dern, and one of the Culkin thespian clan's brightest stars, Rory Culkin who is flawless as Lonnie, the lost, angry little brother of Tobe fighting his fated meek nature, all directed by David Jacobson.
Harlan Fairfax Carruthers, played by Norton, is a fey, charismatic cowboy stuck in the deepest part of the suburban San Fernando Valley, and seemingly stuck in another era of time. On surface he seems naïve and cliché in his "do right by you" act to Wade, Lonnie and Tobe.
Tobe is the Lolita-esque rebellious teen girl who is beginning to be aware of her sexual power. She sets her misplaced sights on Harlan en route to a carefree day at the beach. Their chance encounter explodes into a passionate sexually fueled romance, with the charm of Harlan soon wearing thin on her, as his inconsistencies and lies begin to catch up with him.
Tobe's single father Wade works as a corrections officer and is an overworked parent whose lack of supervising his children begets the nightmare that is every parent's biggest fear. A charlatan drifter ensnares his kin and wreaks havoc on his family's life, as both of his children fall under the pied piper spell of Harlan's mendacious yarns.
Ed Norton is such a monster talent and nuanced performer as he delivers Wade a sincere, forthright speech about treating Tobe with respect, making it sound like the truth and a lie at the same time. Wade doesn't buy what Harlan is selling.
Psychology works against Wade as the now forbidden fruit of Harlan now becomes a siren song for his children to grasp to, in search of something more alive than the routine and emotional neglect of their current lives.
Without giving away the twists and turns of this thriller, Tobe awakens to the true nature of Harlan, and the resulting actions become rife with symbolism to the detriment of the character development, with an excessive amount of indulgent pans and shots of the valley in all its dreary, dusty and decrepit glory.
The director definitely liked the Sepulveda Dam as the constant visual hub of location shots. There could have been an easy 15-20 minutes cut from this film that could have propelled the story more efficiently.
Bruce Dern has a nice cameo as a rancher. Rory Culkin is stand-out as Lonnie, who pines for his sister's "gumption" and shadows everyone. Lonnie is angry with his father and a perfect victim for Harlan's act, and that leads to some closing scenes that fall short of what this movie could have accomplished.
The excellent soundtrack is available from ATO Records and features the music of Peter Salett, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Mazzy Star and others.
"Down in the Valley is a prime example of a film that is beautifully shot and brilliantly written with a storyline and characters that are original and fresh," says Jeff Sackman, President of THINKFilm. "We are proud to debut this film on DVD, and believe it will be a great addition to any film-lovers library."
THINKFilm is a cool, little privately held distribution company with a keen eye for off the beaten path talent. THINKfilm has garnered four Academy Award(r) nominations and a win with Born into Brothels in 2005. Other highlights include the Beastie Awesome; I ...Shot That! the comedy classic The Aristocrats and the Oscar nominated Murderball .
The DVD comes with several special features including Q & A with Edward Norton and writer-director David Jacobson; deleted scenes; theatrical trailer; and trailer gallery.
Down in the Valley is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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