Twisted (2004/I)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Philip Kaufman

Writer (WGA):

Sarah Thorp (written by)

Release Date:

27 February 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Every murder has a mark.

Plot:

Jessica, whose father was a serial killer, is a female police officer. While investigating a murder, she finds herself in the center of her own investigation, when her former lovers start dying around her at a furious pace.

Plot Keywords:

Father | Partner | Police | Murder | Serial Killer

Cast

Ashley Judd	...	Jessica Shepard
Samuel L. Jackson	...	John Mills
Andy Garcia	...	Mike Delmarco
David Strathairn	...	Dr. Melvin Frank
Russell Wong	...	Lieutenant Tong
Camryn Manheim	...	Lisa
Mark Pellegrino	...	Jimmy Schmidt
Titus Welliver	...	Dale Becker
D.W. Moffett	...	Ray Porter
Richard T. Jones	...	Wilson Jefferson
Leland Orser	...	Edmund Cutler
James Oliver Bullock	...	John Flanagan
William Hall	...	Chip Marshall
Joe Duer	...	Larry Geber
Jim Hechim	...	Bob Sherman (as James Hechim)

Also Known As:

The Blackout Murders (USA) (working title)
Twisted - Der erste Verdacht (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and sexuality.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English | Italian | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:16 | Philippines:R-13 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | UK:15 | USA:R (Certificate #39986) | Indonesia:Dewasa | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) (cut) | Canada:14A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Crissy Field, Golden Gate Memorial Recreation Area, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Early in the movie, when Shepard is talking to Mills in the pool room at the bar, posters for The Unbearable Lightness of Being and The Right Stuff are visible. Both films were directed by Philip Kaufman.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the early bar scene when the Police Commissioner comes to congratulate Jessica he passes the same bar costumer twice.

Quotes:

Jessica Shepard: You killed them all
John Mills: They were scum... they didn't deserve you

Movie Connections:

References The Right Stuff (1983)

Soundtrack:

Fandangos

Great Noir!

I just saw a great film noir called TWISTED. I saw some negative comment on your site saying that the film was not a film noir by someone who is obviously unfamiliar with the meaning of the expression. Here's a great definition that a friend of mine who is a noir expert dug up: "...Film noir is a crime story in which characters in the grip of urgent appetites (sex, money and revenge are the most popular) are driven to perform extremely dangerous, complicated and often morally dubious acts, and in which the prevailing mood--a mixture of fear, desire and desperation--is intensified by both a single-minded economy of narrative and almost oppressive formality of graphic design..." TWISTED stars Ashley Judd as a tough cop who picks up guys in bars and has wild sex with them. The only problem is, the guys she sleeps with end up dead! I guess some of the guys are a little uptight about sex and /or women being cops, but that's their problem. What is different about this film from say, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, is that in TWISTED, Jess (Ashley's character) comes to believe that she might be the killer she is looking for. This is her best role ever and I think there's something liberating about seeing a woman cop kick some ass and be truly feminine at the same time. She is strugggling with her capacity to kill. At the end, the film answers the question of "whodunit' in a truly shocking and unexpected way.

If pressed, I would say that this film is a noir thriller, though it's so much more. There's a great love story here too (actually there are many kinds of love stories in the film and one really twisted one-thus the title). The direction, the camera-work and acting are all great.