ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

JUST LIKE the central character of the delusional Harlan Fairfax Carruthers, ‘Down In The Valley’ is a film with the best of intentions.

It doffs its hat to landmark American cinema of the 1970s like ‘Badlands’ and ‘Taxi Driver’, and gives Edward Norton one of his best roles in some time. It also proves to be a meandering, doom-laden character piece that takes far too long to reach an entirely predictable conclusion.

A gentlemanly figure with the shy manner of a young Gary Cooper, Norton’s Harlan claims to be a cowboy from South Dakota. Now he works at a petrol station in the San Fernando Valley.

When bored teenager Tobe (Evan Rachel Wood) spots him pumping gas she makes all the moves. She invites him to the beach, seduces him and makes him believe that he has found the girl of his dreams.

Soon he has also charmed her younger brother Lonnie (Rory Culkin). Only their skeptical father Wade (David Morse) refuses to take him at face value. The slow-burning story develops in exactly the direction one had expected as the bond between Harlan and Tobe deepens and Wade’s disapproval intensifies.

It is only a matter of time before real life invades this lyrical interlude and a tragic outcome becomes inevitable.

A boyish Norton wins sympathy for a misguided man convinced he can be something that he is not, and Evan Rachel Wood is quietly effective as a girl smart enough to recognise that there is more to Harlan than meets the eye. Strongly acted, ‘Down In The Valley’ is still too sluggish and idiosyncratic to be judged a success.

Selected nationwide release
Directors: David Jacobson
Stars: Edward Norton, Evan Rachel Wood, David Morse, Rory Culkin, Bruce Dern
Screenwriter: David Jacobson
Certificate: 15
Running time: 112 mins
Country: USA
Year: 2005

© Allan Hunter, 2006