Movies
Remember this film from the early 90's? It starred Brad Pitt in what I consider to be his finest performance. He plays Early Grayce, a sociopath shitkicking trailer trash redneck. He and his simpleminded girl, played convincingly by Juliette Lewis, accept a ride across the country with a couple of yuppified liberal milquetoasts*. We know from the get that Early is Bad News, as the first scene in the film shows him throwing a large rock from a bridge onto a passing car. The couple that is with them are played by David Duchovny and Michelle Forbes. Duchovny is your basic wishy-washy bookend that appears to have no convictions about his own identity or personality. Forbes is a snooty photographer whose pictures push the limits of acceptability with its depictions of sex and violence. Of course, when faced with the real thing in the form of Early Grayce, she is as agast as a Catholic grandmother looking at Mapplethorpe images.

I said that Pitt as Early is his best role. I’ll go that one better: I think it's one of the all time classic screen performances. Unfortunately, I've known people like Early Grayce and Brad Pitt has it DOWN, Jack. From every mannerism to his gutteral dialect to his snorting sinuses, right down to the almost physical presence of the threat of potential violence that surrounds him.

Juliette Lewis is almost as good as Pitt in kalifornia. I had an immense amount of empathy for her character, as she seemed to live in fear of Early’s temper. Her every expression screams vulnerability and repressed potential of happiness and security.

Duchovny is traveling to California (why they use the k in the title is beyond me), stopping off at various locations where serial killers did their work. He gradually becomes enamored of Early’s no-holds-barred, fearless lifestyle and begins beer swilling, gambling and pistol shooting, while his holier-than-thou lady friend becomes increasingly disquieted by the situation she has found herself in. Early, seemingly weary of the company of Lewis, who has no surprises for him anymore, turns a jaundiced eye toward this veneer-strong photographer woman. The viewer knows that things are going to turn bad for the upwardly mobile two, and when it does happen, I don’t think anyone is surprised.

I picked up the kalifornia DVD at Best Buy for $5.99 a few weeks ago and I’m very glad that I did. I hadn’t seen it in at least a decade and I found that it holds up very well.





*No one can accuse me of stereotyping, can they?

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