Down in the Valley
Down in the Valley is a "western" of sorts from 2005 created and set in the valley of Los Angeles. Edward Norton gives a pretty decent performance as Harlan, a troubled thirty-something who is obsessed with a cowboy-like existence. Evan Rachel Wood also turns in a decent performance as Tobe a young teen who gets involved in a sexual relationship with Harlan. The film was developed at the Sundance Institute and premiered at Cannes in 2005.
On the Down in the Valley website it states that the film "is both an homage to the classic Hollywood western and a completely contemporary update of the genre." I would say, yes, Down in the Valley really does achieve that goal. But the question is, is this film really entertaining to modern audiences? Even modern audiences who, say, have no interest in Westerns (like me, for example)
Down in the Valley was entertaining in its unpredictability. The film presents a standard taboo relationship between a grown man and a young teenager, and then throws in the interesting angle that Harlan thinks he is a cowboy. Edward Norton's character idealizes cowboy type themes and motifs that draw him to be an out of date and perhaps out of touch character.
The film in essence is really a character study of Harlan more than anything else. Overall, Down in the Valley succeeds because the script is innovative and the actors all do a good job with their roles. On fact, Edward Norton had a happy glint in his eye, like he was already visualizing himself walking down the carpet to accept his award for his "powerful" acting in this film.
My main complaint with Down in the Valley is that parts of the film's plot towards the end of the movie become unbelievable. Not only do these plot elements take away from the dramatic tension the film is building, but they also make the plot fairly comical. For example, Harlan is on the run from Tobe's father on horseback and spontaneously happens to run into a film shoot for a Western movie. Of course, Harlan in his delusional state appears to believes this film shoot is really a slice of real life.
Can I just take a moment here and ponder with you- what on earth are the chances that a man on the run on horseback would happen to run into a movie shoot of a Western as he randomly rides around Southern California? Yes, obviously there are clearly many-a-film-shoot in LA, but I mean what are the chances to roam into the middle of one if you were riding around on horseback? And then it be a Western movie on top of that. Quite the coincidence! You will likely find other equally unbelievable plot devices towards the second half of the movie, which again, take away from the overall believability of Down in the Valley.
Still I can say I found Down in the Valley novel in its plot, characters and screenplay and the acting was engaging. For this reason the film rates somewhere between a B- and a C+
Grading
Story: C+
Acting: B+
Visuals: B
Originality/Innovation: B-
Enjoyability: C+
Overall: B-/C+
|
