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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Like every film Clint Eastwood makes, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is fascinated by the mystery of masculinity: what it means to be a man, and what you have to do to be the kind of man you think you need to be. Based on a book by the same name, the film recounts a complex tale of murder, involving characters who seem your everyday people but carry deep difference underneath. Set in the beautiful town of Savannah, Georgia, the film focuses on a murder and the subsequent trial of Jim Williams: self made man, art collector, antiques dealer, bon vivant and semi-closeted homosexual. John Kelso a magazine reporter finds himself in Savannah amid 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. Later that night, Billy is dead, and Kelso stays on to cover the murder trial. Along the way he encounters the irrepressible Lady Chablis, a drag queen, Sonny, 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 Ladies Card Club. Kevin Spacey's performance as Williams is rich and fun, his accent not note-perfect. John Cusack as John Kelso fits his part very well and keeps his charm for audience. The film in long and seems dragged at certain points but it still is pretty enjoyable. I liked character of drag queen and it does keep us entertained but I somehow fail to understand why was it given so much importance. Even the voodoo woman was a little to of the place but I guess Eastwood wanted to show some cultural aspects as well. This is not really a gay cinema but nevertheless a decent story being played on the screen. (6/10)

Comments

Unknown said…
I have this film in my Amazon collection and I have watched it many times. Oh, the book was based on an actual murder case. The real James Williams was finally aquitted after three hung juries failed to convict only to die less than a year later. To find out info on the real characters, simply refer to the site Find-a-Grave.com which links the actually Billy and James together. James did purchase the Mercer House in Savannah, Georgia and it is Johnny Mercer's song "Moon River" being sung by that ghostlike woman's voice in the background. The statue of the girl holding the scales of justice was actually moved into a museum because evidently several teen thugs caused a lot of damage in the Bonaventure Cemetery. Ok so, one thing of not is that Eastwood may have played up this case but the actual author of the book based it on his own experiences as he himself reported the original story and John Brendt, the author was gay. What many viewers of this film fail to notice is that when the Lady Chablis shows up at the very fancy catillion ball, she goes out of her way to embarrass Kelso because she wants to enjoy sex with him. He wants her to testify but she mentions that he has to spend the night with him indicating that the "straight" Kelso had to have gay sex with her because the Lady Chablis is a real transvestite performer in Georgia and she refused to have her genitals take because she is a Christian woman who believes God doesn't want anybody to mess with that stuff. So, she testifies and when she gets into the courtroom, her spectacle is probably one of the funniest scenes in the entire film. Don't forget the theme of voodoo and payback from the dead. A person can pull up interviews, made at the time the film was released with several of the actual townsfolk Eastwood used in the film and Lady Chablis is one of them. Pull it up on Youtube if that kind of stuff interests you as it did me.
Golu said…
Gosh!! How do you know all these things.. even better.. how do you remember all these stuff? I watch so many films that I even forget what it was all about , forget trying to make a comment on it after years :)

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