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Title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| John Cusack | ... | John Kelso | |
| Kevin Spacey | ... | Jim Williams | |
| Jack Thompson | ... | Sonny Seiler | |
| Irma P. Hall | ... | Minerva | |
| Jude Law | ... | Billy Hanson | |
| Alison Eastwood | ... | Mandy Nicholls | |
| Paul Hipp | ... | Joe Odom | |
| Lady Chablis | ... | Chablis Deveau (as The Lady Chablis) | |
| Dorothy Loudon | ... | Serena Dawes | |
| Anne Haney | ... | Margaret Williams | |
| Kim Hunter | ... | Betty Harty | |
| Geoffrey Lewis | ... | Luther Driggers | |
| Richard Herd | ... | Henry Skerridge | |
| Leon Rippy | ... | Detective Boone | |
| Bob Gunton | ... | Finley Largent | |
This panoramic tale of Savannah, Georgia's eccentricities focuses on a murder and the subsequent trial of James Arthur Williams (Kevin Spacey): self made man, art collector, antiques dealer, bon vivant, and semi-closeted homosexual. John Kelso (John Cusack) a magazine reporter, finds himself in Savannah amidst the beautiful architecture and odd doings to write a feature on one of William's famous Christmas parties. He is intrigued by Williams from the start, but his curiosity is piqued when he meets Jim's violent, young and sexy lover, Billy Hanson (Jude Law). Later that night, Billy is dead, and Kelso stays on to cover the murder trial. Along the way, he encounters the irrepressible Chablis Deveau (Lady Chablis), a drag queen commedienne, Sonny Seiler (Jack Thompson), lawyer to Williams, whose famous dog, Uga, is the official mascot of the Georgia Bulldogs, an odd man who keeps flies attached to mini leashes on his lapels and threatens daily to poison the water supply, the Married ... Written by Teresa B. O'Donnell <sun.moon.stars@worldnet.att.net>
I haven't read the book. Might have hated the film if I had. But I liked it. I did read some reviews before viewing the film, and I was prepared to dislike it. A lot of the criticism has some validity. The movie isn't really a linear type of murder mystery. It's partly that and partly a quirky travelogue of Savannah. The Lady Chablis character gets way too much screen time, apparently because Eastwood thinks that it will entertain us. It does, but only to a point. However, this is a different sort of movie, so I understand why Eastwood includes so much of Chablis, and the voodoo woman, and the fly guy. Also, John Cusack plays it with the same dead-fish expressionlessness that he brings to most of his roles. This isn't really bad, it's just that he's always the same.
I had never seen one of Kevin Spacey's films before, and I am impressed at how he really nailed the role. I thought his performance made this film.
A word or two about the accents. Most non-Southern actors really murder Southern accents. I'm from Texas, not the Georgia coast, but I thought Spacey hit the accent just right all the way through. It was always there, but was never the focus. (Streepian in its apparent effortlessness) Jack Thompson did his accent very well, also, particularly since I understand that he's an Aussie. Some other cast members didn't do well with the Southern accent, like Alison Eastwood. She overdid it. It seemed strained. And oh, yeah, Cusack sounds like an accentless Californian rather than a New Yorker.
Overall, I guess I've written a lot more criticism than praise, but that wasn't my intent. This was a good movie. Think of it more as an art-house film rather than a mass-market picture, and you might have more realistic expectations.