Pretty Good

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This opens like in a film noir, with a narrator in his last moments musing on who he really is, the house around him is on fire and he's playing the trumpet. We swoop into him to find where it all went awry and he lost himself.Promising for a while, so long as we have no safe footing in solid reality and instead free fall through selves, acquiring narrative fabrics in our fall through stories. We see a drug addict, tattooed and blitzed out of his mind. A police informant. A trumpet player. An unhappy man who comes back to the same seedy apartment.I don't mind that we have the snappy cadence of Snatch or Goodfellas here and there and quirky bad guys. This really could have been something if we were left to soak up edges of shifting self and story - hallucinated by the druggie? remembered? an informant's remorse? - as we made our way to a remote cabin for a drug deal that may have been orchestrated as part of one or more of these lives.They didn't allow us to float here. Eventually it becomes like Memento, where after a few surprises we settle on a real story, we get a flashback that explains. It becomes mechanical, a case of coming up with what happened, so when in the end, it tries to wonder about who really is this man, and what of all this was true, it comes across as an unimaginative guy musing about the wonders of imagination. The whole point is that even the formerly happy life that was snatched from him should float like all the others, perhaps a self that he comes back to to make his way through the rest. Lynch would know just how, Ruiz.A more imaginative mind here would have also made use of Kilmer's presence as formerly happy guy who has bottomed out and now inhabits a limbo where acting selves struggle within anxious stories to get out of them. But that would require the same untethered shifting.Noir Meter: 2/4 | Neo-noir or post noir? Post

The Salton Sea commences in classic neo noir fashion, camera looking down at a man slumped upon the floor of a burning room, his mournful notes dancing in the air amidst charring money, wearied voice over inviting the audience to make their own mind up as to the events that led to this pretty pass. By and by the film enters less into the expected machinations of love, money and deceit, but a story of a sad man and his life among the terminally addicted, a milieu rather well evoked. Where all too many films about drugs mist along in glum pointlessness, bask in dumb revelry or wallow in bathos The Salton Sea gets things rather right, stylised for sure but in the aid of a well handled mood, endless days of sunless light, warmth of hazy friendship, excitable chatter and mad ideas. Its pleasing stuff, quirky and sympathetic drama tinged with offbeat humour and ever laced through with disturbing undercurrents of danger, with an eclectic cast handling their roles well. Much of the film is really pretty swell actually, which makes the final block all the more of a let down when the plot comes together. Though well executed things come together in regrettably typical fashion, eschewing the potential for thoughtful and interesting fusion of noir elements and drugged out characters, its fun in its quirky and violent fashion but a bit of a let down really. Still, assured direction from DJ Caruso (who appears not to have made anything worthwhile since) and plenty of good turns keep the film afloat. Val Kilmer is powerfully haunted as the hero with dark secrets and darker past, his star power subsumed into a pretty interesting character. Vincent D'Onofrio is an unhinged blast as a dealer with a fake nose, Deborah Kara Unger well worn and wearied as a beleaguered neighbour, Peter Saarsgard brings light as a friendly addict, Anthony LaPaglia and Doug Hutchison are hard nosed cops and there's even a nice restrained R. Lee Ermey cameo. A fine mixture, and they gel well together making for a smooth, interesting ride. With a better ending this could almost be a minor modern favorite of mine, but as it stands is merely pretty darned decent. Strong 7/10 from me, worth a look.

I started using the IMDb recently, its quiet addictive really if your a movie fanatic, i used to check into rottentomatoes every time i wanted to know about a film, or the well respected wikipedia.the great thing about this site that it always appreciate art & intelligence, rarely you find a high rating for a dumb movie. its very realistic & honest, but as we all know all things have buts, whats bothering me is seeing a wonderfully astonishing piece of art not being appreciated enough.the rating 7,1 is not very encouraging to be honest, specially when u have all of those above 7,5. THIS MOVIE SHOULD BE 8,3 or something. the script & dialogue is pure genius, Val Kilmer gets sucked by his character, you could swear hes not Val, amazing performance by all actors indeed, except for 2, watch it and see if you could figure them out ;) go watch it guys, you wont regret it.

I've been looking up Kilmer's work before he hit rock-bottom and the straight to video market. So far The Salton Sea tops the list.Kilmer plays a burned-out junkie who has at least one other identity. He gets in trouble with psychotic drug dealer Pooh-Bear (Vincent D'Onofrio), while trying to level his position with cops Garcetti (Anthony LaPaglia) and Morgan (Doug Hutchison) and being haunted by the death of his wife.A very, very good drug drama. The plot is involving and always interesting, the characters are utterly original and engrossing. The cinematography draws you in and the direction overall is very well done. Kilmer and D'Onofrio are just amazing. They steal each scene they're in and show why they're two of the best in the business. Doug Hutchison as well. Definitely recommend this one.