Mitternacht im Garten von Gut und Böse (1997)

Mitternacht im Garten von Gut und Böse: Directed by Clint Eastwood. With John Cusack, Kevin Spacey, Jack Thompson, Irma P. Hall. A visiting city reporter’s assignment suddenly revolves around the murder trial of a local millionaire, whom he befriends.

“The word for this film is u0026quot;tedious.u0026quot; The movie is the story of a prominent citizen in a Southern town who commits a crime and then attempts to conceal it. Rightfully, the motivations of Kevin Spaceyu0026#39;s character should have taken center stage in this film. Instead, the story is told through the eyes of a magazine reporter, played by John Cusack.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003enThrough the reporteru0026#39;s eyes, we get all sorts of details that are not relevant to the outcome of the film. The story of the reporteru0026#39;s developing friendship with Spaceyu0026#39;s character, who describes himself as u0026quot;nouveau riche,u0026quot; may have been intended to lend an ornate atmosphere to the film. In the end, however, it does not satisfactorily explain Spaceyu0026#39;s characteru0026#39;s motive for his crime. In fact, the interplay between Cusacku0026#39;s and Spaceyu0026#39;s characters only serves to bog down this film and strangle its intent. The magazine reporter is primarily an observer, like the movie audience, and his contribution to the motivation of the lead character or its explanation is minimal. In the final analysis, the magazine reporter and what he thinks or does are irrelevant to the climax of the film.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt may be that director Clint Eastwood wanted to present an eccentric morality tale a la William Faulkneru0026#39;s best work. Like Faulkner, Eastwood may have wanted to show how merciless consequences flow from actions founded upon evil motivations and false principles. His message may be and likely is that impartial justice will catch up with the person who knowingly and willfully violates it. Eastwoodu0026#39;s best films, as a director and an actor, have concerned a more direct confrontation of his characters with an impartial standard of justice, often personified by Eastwood himself. Consider u0026quot;High Plains Drifteru0026quot; and u0026quot;Pale Rideru0026quot; which, for this genre, are far superior films to this one. In u0026quot;Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil,u0026quot; director Eastwood has simply gotten in over his head, tried to do too much with the material.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evilu0026quot; may have been conceived in the tradition of great films associated with Clint Eastwood, but the focus of the story as directed is wrong and the action is tedious. The movie leaves its viewer feeling confused and suffocated by the sultry Southern humidity. I give this movie two stars (* *), which is more kind than I ought to be.”