MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD & EVIL

"The fruit is ripe here, a cinematic plum, plucked from literature where all the best writers work, but the taste is different: instead of the slow, melting osmosis of characters and setting that we enjoy as readers, as audiences we have to adapt to the sensations of sight and sound. And even more importantly, to the limits of what the camera sees. This is always true, but never more so than with a film where the nuances and twists of perception, love, sex, mysticism and social strictures are the currency. Eastwood’s attempt at framing this work is far more accomplished than Crissa-Jean (below) gives him credit for. Accepting that the novelty acts of Chablis and Minerva – one a trans-sexual, the other a voodoo priestess – are clamouring and unsubtle (hardly unexpected given their characters), the film does deliver a sense of place, time and characters that sits comfortably for an audience. There are also poetic touches, especially the opening and closing moments in the "garden" – the cemetery. And exposition is not always a bad thing in film, especially when the story is filled with characters all busy with their own thing. Yes, it is too long, as Louise (above) observes. And yes, there is a touch of rambling: and yes, John Cusack’s mannerims (especially his mouth business) get tiresome. But you have to admire ‘Dirty Harry’ as Crissa-Jean refers to Eastwood, for knowing a thing or two about taking you into a world where you care for the people – one way or t’other. And Jack Thompson? He’s very good indeed. Do take a stroll in this garden, you’ll be pleasantly surprised."
Andrew L. Urban

"Here is an example of the wrong director for the wrong film. Despite a few interesting touches by director Clint Eastwood, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a surprisingly lacklustre affair, a film of dull predictability. The film is overlong, with Eastwood lacking the ability of cutting in the right places. The film doesn't know what it's ultimately attempting to achieve, be it a satiric view of Southern American society, a murder mystery which ain't no mystery, or a dash of voodoo. There's a dash of everything, all bottled together in a slow, uneven affair that rarely engulfs the viewer's interest. Perhaps with a stronger cast, the film may have worked better, but the acting, with one or two exceptions, is as dull as Eastwood's direction. John Cusack is way out of his depth here as the pivotal writer. For a character of apparent passion, Cusack has no idea what to do with this character, and so he wanders through it all in an aimless, passionless manner. Kevin Spacey does his usual schtick with eloquent but superficial predictability, while Alison Eastwood is a leading lady with nothing to do, but then we know why SHE'S in the movie, right? However, our own Jack Thompson manages to deliver one of his deftest performances to date as the showy Southern lawyer. Real-life transvestite Lady Chablis, playing herself, is also a major scene-stealer. In one of the few memorable moments in the film, Chablis gatecrashes a black and white debutante ball (beautifully mounted) with hilarious results. If Eastwood had kept this momentum going, he may well have conjured up a gem, but alas, it’s a wishy washy affair; indeed, a garden not worth traversing at any time of day or night."
Paul Fischer