Review

Review Date: 4-June-06
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Down in the Valley (2006)

Edward Norton may have been out of sight, but he hasn't been out of my mind. I'm delighted that after an overlong absence from theaters, his blazing talent, intensity, and sexiness are back on display in "Down in the Valley," a thought-provoking drama about love and longing in Los Angeles. He plays a drifter named Harlan who moseys into the city and meets a teenager just waiting for life to start. This girl, Tobe (Evan Rachel Wood), spots him pumping gas and is immediately drawn to the cowboy demeanor that sets him apart from everything she knows. She pounces on him and makes him her lover, which delights her lonely brother Lonnie (Rory Culkin) but puts her bruiser father (David Morse) on his guard.

The first time Harlan and Tobe look at each other is a fantastic movie moment (one of several nice touches from writer/director David Jacobson), but even in the presence of love at first sight there's a note of foreboding. "Are you for real?" one of Tobe's friends asks the stranger, and you can't help wondering the same. Jacobson uses the clash between Harlan's antiquated Western simplicity and his modern-day surroundings to suggest both a fish out of water and someone out of touch with reality. But does this make him romantic or dangerous? Both Tobe and Lonnie think he's a savior, while their father thinks he's trash. Of course, there's more than paternal concern involved in this opinion, since he senses that his kids respond to Harlan as a better male role model than he himself has ever been.

And Harlan does have a lot going for him. Whereas Tobe's father is brutish and tough, he seems calm and attentive without sacrificing his masculinity or self-confidence. This is where Norton's strengths hit the mark. He invites the viewer to react to Harlan in conflicting ways simultaneously. He's the embodiment of something that's perhaps too much to wish for anymore, and yet one can see how desperately he struggles to be who he needs to be.

He does have one thing in common with Tobe's father, though: both are handy with a gun. After Harlan gets arrested for "borrowing" a horse, Dad (a latter-day sheriff) announces that the town's not big enough for both of them and the boyfriend has to go. The ensuing arguments, chases, and shoot-outs run a bit too long, but the acting and atmosphere are fine throughout. Particularly for those who admire its star, "Down in the Valley" is a rewarding study of what it takes to be a man and whether modernity complicates the process.

Copyright © 2006 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.