Salton Sea (2002)
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Theatrical Release: Apr 26, 2002 Limited
Box Office: $626,750
Synopsis: Caught up in the permanent nighttime of the habitual methamphetamine user, Danny Parker (Val Kilmer) and his friends close the curtains so they can't tell what time of day it is. But while his associates revel in their highs, Danny is haunted by his previous life as Tom Van Allen, a trumpet... Caught up in the permanent nighttime of the habitual methamphetamine user, Danny Parker (Val Kilmer) and his friends close the curtains so they can't tell what time of day it is. But while his associates revel in their highs, Danny is haunted by his previous life as Tom Van Allen, a trumpet player who lost his wife (Chandra West) in the crossfire of a shoot out. In an effort to find his wife's killer, Tom became a police informant, adopting a heavily-tattooed disguise. When he discovers that a Mexican drug lord has put a hit out on him, Danny decides to pull one last score--unfortunately involving Pooh-Bear (Vincent D'Onofrio), a childlike kingpin with a penchant for torture and a yawning void where his nose once was. D.J. Caruso's debut is a beautifully photographed punk-noir set against the backdrop of a gang of speed freaks in contemporary L.A. Opening with a brief history of methamphetamine, THE SALTON SEA immediately establishes an original tone for its kaleidoscopic tour through well-traveled territory. Taking its cue from the wave of mid-1990s crime films, the script by Tony Gayton (MURDER BY NUMBERS) delivers the usual doses of hip "gallows" humor, but also infuses the proceedings with dollops of pain and loss, often shifting the tone to that of the more soulful, responsible crime films of the 1970s. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Val Kilmer, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Goldberg, Luis Guzmán, Doug Hutchison
Screenwriter: Tony Gayton
Producer: Frank Darabont, Eriq La Salle, Jim Behnke
Composer: Thomas Newman
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
Com boas atuações de Kilmer e D’Onofrio, o filme tem um roteiro razoável, mas sem foco. Salva-se graças ao interessante personagem principal.
Marked by an ambitious style and solid performances, but hampered by a story that buries its primary focus until late in the game.
Is authenticity too much to ask? It's not as if the various drug subcultures don't have enough humor and tragedy built in that you need to take a detour into Fantasyland.
It's a sort of rollercoaster ride through the salvaged wreckage of a hundred similar movies.
Lo lamento, pero este mar no me atrapó como para creerle mucho. Una cinta más, regular y nunca tan buena como el director quiere hacerla parecer, presuntuosa y pasajera...
...[Vincent D'Onofrio's] almost insanely entertaining performance essentially takes the film to an entirely different level...
There’s something fundamental missing from this story: something or someone to care about.
While it's all happening, it's entertaining enough, but when it's finished (in a disappointingly conventional manner), it doesn't seem to have been about very much.
It turns out to be just another inane druggie thriller with a revenge plot.
Repellent yet intriguing, brutal yet funny, wicked yet strangely compassionate, The Salton Sea is more about mixing genres and styles than illuminating a credible reality.
By getting myself wrapped up in the visuals and eccentricities of many of the characters, I found myself confused when it came time to get to the heart of the movie.
Overall, this examination of manufactured corruption set against a film noirish swagger may not have the in-depth impact like contemporaries L.A. Confidential or Memento, but this Sea is certainly worth swimming in
Sacrificing content for style, Caruso gives us a lot to look at but little to ponder.
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