MovieChat Forums > Twixt (2012) Discussion > My TIFF review of Twixt

My TIFF review of Twixt

posted 12 years ago by ShadyGuy
1 reply | jump to latest

An Edgar Allan Poe inspired gothic horror film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Val Kilmer, starting with a Tom Waits narrative voiceover. How can this go wrong? Many ways apparently, because as Coppola explained in the Q&A after the film this self funded vehicle was based on a dream he had and he didn't really have an ending to the story. This is noticable as the plotline that's supposed to tie all the subplots together whimpers and leaves you feeling unsatisfied.

There is good in this film too, however. Kilmer delivers a convincing performance as the down on his luck horror fiction writer who wanders into a sleepy californian desert town for a book signing and finds inspiration for a new book due to a murder of a young girl that recently happened there. The scene where he tries to write a beginning to his new vampire horror novel with the help of a lot of whiskey is hilarious. Also, the fim has a great color pallette where the daytime desert town scenes are very bright, the nighttime dream sequence scenes have a blue monochrome color scheme that adds a lot of atmosphere. But as mentioned before, the story ultimately has no good ending and falters. The inclusion of some gimmicky 3D scenes (when these start you see a pair of 3D glasses gliding over the screen, so you know when to put your glasses on) also don't help. Color me disappointed.

[–] prettyh-1 11 years ago

I'm a fellow TIFF-goer every year, which is probably why your post grabbed my attention even after all this time. :)

I didn't see the film at the Festival, though; I rented it yesterday (from an actual video store!) and...yeah, I was left pretty much speechless, and not in a good way, when the end title card came up. I do agree with you on the hilarity of the scene where Baltimore is trying to write the start of his novel - his impersonations of James Mason, Marlon Brando (and the clever shoutout to "Apocalypse Now"!) and his nameless "gay black basketball player from the '60s" were a reminder of what Kilmer can do when he's at his best; his comedic talent is underused and underrated.

I had no idea until I read your post that there were parts in 3D! That would've been a bizarre experience, sitting at the Elgin or the Bloor or wherever it screened and having to watch for an indicator to put your glasses on...? Yeesh. Which scenes were they? If they included the bits like V being "rescued" by Flamingo on his motorcycle, or her apparition asking for help in the water, that might explain why I kept thinking the VFX were so terrible and obviously green-screen-ish whilst watching it on DVD - they weren't intended for 2D. Ahahaha. That part, at least, makes more sense now!

I'm curious about how the rest of the audience reacted. I mean, obviously having FFC there at the Q&A had to be a big hit, but I'm trying to imagine an entire theatre attempting to act politely enthusiastic for a movie that a lot of people (myself included) really didn't care for in the slightest!