# Kalifornia (1993)

### reviewed by
Kevin Patterson

    Film review by Kevin Patterson

    KALIFORNIA
    Rating: *** (out of four)
    R, 1993
    Director: Dominic Sena
    Screenplay: Tim Metcalfe
    Starring Cast: Brad Pitt, David Duchovny, Juliette Lewis, Michelle Forbes

The other reviews I have read of KALIFORNIA have labeled it as everything from a brilliant insight into humanity's capacity for evil to pointless exploitative garbage. I don't really think it's either. It's a good film with considerably more substance than most thrillers, yet it's not quite as successful as it could have been.

Screenwriter Tim Metcalfe has created two edgy protagonists in Brian Kessler (David Duchovny) and his girlfriend Kerry (Michelle Forbes). Brian has a fascination with serial killers, and believes that most of them are not really evil but tend to be the product of circumstances that hinder their development as moral human beings. Kerry is trying to make a living selling erotic photography, and Brian is supposed to be writing a book on serial killers but is getting nowhere. The down-on-their-luck couple decide to take a cross-country trip to California, and along the way they will stop at the sites of several well-known murders so that Brian can try to get inside the killers' frame of mind while Kerry takes the pictures for his book.

Since they don't have enough money to make the trip by themselves, they decide to advertise on a ride-sharing board. Another couple, Early Grace (Brad Pitt) and Adele (Juliette Lewis), respond to the ad. Early seems slightly intimidating and prone to violence (he takes Brian to a biker bar and gets in a fight, and later shows Brian how to shoot a gun), and Adele is spacey and disturbingly submissive to Early. Brian finds himself strangely attracted to Early's impulsive behavior, while Kerry remains suspicious, and with good reason: Early has recently finished a prison term, and murdered his landlord right before taking off with Adele. By the time Brian and Kerry fully realize what's going on, they are essentially hostages as the trip continues. Still, Brian can't resist the opportunity to try to understand Early's motivations, wondering if an abusive father might have instilled his violent tendencies and asking him why he kills and how it makes him feel. Brian's own fascination with violence, and his forgiving attitudes towards those who engage in it, are both challenged by the living example of Early Grace.

Unfortunately, the challenge proves to be insufficient in the end. At the heart of KALIFORNIA is the question of whether some people are truly evil or if everyone is more or less a product of circumstance, but the material presented can't really answer that question. Early is not, from my admittedly limited knowledge of the subject, a serial killer. His murders are spur-of-the-moment and are usually precipitated by anger or selfishness (such as when he follows a wealthy suit-and-tie type into a bathroom, stabs him to death, and takes his money). The issue of whether or not evil is simply a more powerful force in some human beings than others cannot be settled by the likes of Early Grace: he acts on impulse alone, and the distinction between good and evil is essentially meaningless for him (which, whether it was intended or not, actually seems to validate Brian's theories).

The best way for a film with these underlying themes to conclude would have been to unite the moral conflicts with the more immediate physical danger: make the final showdown one between serial killer and serial killer researcher. But since Early's characterization makes this impossible, the only way for first-time director Dominic Sena to bring everything to a head is to focus on the one conflict that is complete enough to drive the plot, and it's also the simplest--Early is dangerous, and might kill Brian and Kerry. The final moments of the film consist of a series of violent confrontations and action scenes, some of which seem a little excessive (which may account for the charges of exploitation from some critics). In one sequence, for example, Early has kidnapped Kerry and driven to an isolated house near a nuclear testing facility. Brian heads after them, and as he approaches the house, he spins off the road as his truck overturns and he is knocked unconscious. He awakes the next morning, walks the rest of the way to the house, and attempts to rescue Kerry. Why not simply have him drive up, park, and then confront Early? Well, I guess because then we wouldn't have had the car crash scene.

Still, the filmmakers might have gotten away with this kind of incomplete resolution if they had played their cards right. They could have acknowledged that the issue really hinges on true serial killers or on megalomaniacs like Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin, who carefully consider and plan out the suffering they cause, and not on an animalistic thug like Early. Unfortunately, they seem to be trying to fake it in the final reels. In a final narration delivered without any noticeable irony, Brian seems to think he's got it all figured it out and understands what constitutes human evil. Personally, I think he'd better do a little more research before he writes that serial killer book.

I have spent a considerable amount of time discussing where KALIFORNIA goes wrong, yet it's not a bad film by any means. It's an engaging thriller with a tight plot, sharply written characters, and some interesting ideas about violence. It had the potential, however, to be a lot more, and ultimately settles for good instead of great by confining the moral conflict to a subplot and falling back on the familiar cushion of a violent action climax. Still, there's some good stuff here, and I'll probably be keeping my eye open for Sena's next film.

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