Twixt 2011

The bit in between the dream and waking worlds. Twixt is written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Val Kilmer, Bruce Dern, Elle Fanning, Ben Chaplin, Joanne Whalley and Don Novello. Music is by Dan Deacon and Osvaldo Golijov and cinematography by Mihai Malaimare. Hall Baltimore (Kilmer) is a struggling writer of witchcraft based novels, during a book signing stop over in a sleepy backwater American town, he finds himself involved with evil, murder and Edgar Allan Poe’s Ghost. But just what is real here?... Twixt finds Coppola in relaxed mode, in the later stages of his film making career, he’s clearly made an adventurous movie based on a dream and personal instances. Very much operating in the realm of dreamscaping, both on visual and narrative terms, it’s an often silly picture yet one that still beguiles with its weirdness and daring visual touches. There’s also a good quotient of humour, both self aware and absurd, but if searching for a horror movie here you will be very disappointed. The Lynchian feel to it ensures it’s an interesting misfire, while the cast are all very enjoyable, but it’s not a film for a concrete recommendation. 6/10

_**"The horror, the horror" of the creative process**_ Released in 2011 and Written & directed by Francis Ford Coppola, "Twixt" is a mystery dramedy with elements of horror starring Val Kilmer as Hall Baltimore, a mystery/horror writer with a declining career. On his latest book tour he arrives in a small town and gets caught up in a murder mystery upon meeting the eccentric sheriff, Bobby LaGrange (Bruce Dern). He meets a quasi-goth girl named V (Elle Fanning) who reminds him of his pubescent daughter. There's also a camp of weirdo goth-kids across the lake and Edgar Allen Poe shows up now and then as a kind of spirit-guide (Ben Chaplin), but what's dream and what's reality? And who murdered the female in the morgue? Alden Ehrenreich is on hand as the leader of the wannabe vampire youths, Flamingo, while Anthony Fusco plays the dubious pastor. Joanne Whalley appears as Baltimore's wife while Bruce A. Miroglio plays the fat bastage deputy. "Twixt" (as in 'betwixt,' between) combines the look of Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992) with the inscrutableness of 2007's "Youth Without Youth" plus a sense of humor. It's a quirky, hermetic mystery flick that leaves you scratching your head, but you strangely find yourself enjoying the ride, for the most part. It's a fun Gothic tale with beautifully haunting cinematography & atmosphere, highlighted by Poe, bell towers, ghosts and bats in the belfry. At the same time, "Twixt" is about the creative process as we observe the desperation of a writer with a splash of actual talent scraping the bottom of the barrel, often under the influence of sundry intoxicants. Will he come up with a best seller? Will he solve the murder mystery? Will he come to terms with his ghosts of the past and his inner demons, so to speak, specters and demons that arise from his guilt over what happened to his daughter? A lot of the movie is an internal dialogue with the writer's own ghosts and literary influences. Poe and Charles Baudelaire (a notorious substance abuser) are referenced, with the former intermittently appearing, but only when Baltimore is under the influence, or dreaming. Did the abuse and murder of the children happen as shown? Or did Poe and the vampire incarnation of his own daughter serve as muses to the writer as he works his way through creating a story that turns his career around? Coppola leaves it up to you to decide what is real and what is imagination, but the answers are there if you want to mine 'em. Francis got the story from a dream he had while staying in Istanbul. This sets-up the criticism that Coppola's dream is the audience's nightmare. While "Twixt" leaves too many threads dangling, the parts are all there; they just needed sewn together more effectively. Then again, Francis likely wanted the viewer to leave with questions to ponder. See below for insights. The film runs 88 minutes and was shot at Kelseyville and the Clear Lake area of Northern California. GRADE: B- (6.5/10) **MISC. INSIGHTS** ***SPOILER ALERT*** (Don't read further unless you've watched the movie) A lot of what happens in the town was the author working out his story, but most of it isn't real. The sheriff and deputy are real, as are their deaths at the end, not to mention Baltimore's wife. The sheriff really wanted to write with him. The movie shows what Baltimore experienced as he journeys through his creative process. His book is completed by the end, selling 30,000 copies. The bell tower strangely features seven different times, perhaps figurative of when Baltimore couldn't join his daughter for a trip due to setting his alarm clock with the wrong time. If he was there she wouldn't have died, he reasons. So "time" is useless and naturally the antagonist. Even V says keeping track of time "here" is meaningless, which explains her missing the book signing. An important part of the movie is Hall's loss of his daughter. Time is the 'villain.' By not dealing with the tragic accident Baltimore is figuratively keeping his daughter undead. He's fighting time somehow. The age of his daughter when she died is also pertinent. She was betwixt a child and a teenager. And Hall was perhaps between deadlines and going on tours, thus missing out on some of her late childhood/early adolescence ("I thought they would be small boats... children's boats..."). The vampire kids represent the sometimes startling changes children go through as they enter their teens - e.g. their music and the clothes they wear - as they start developing a disposition of their own. It seems so weird to their parents who unexpectedly discover themselves "on the outside looking in." The Sheriff symbolizes the older generation; basically saying, "Bah, these kids today!" The psycho pastor slays the kids to prevent them from "becoming vampires," that is, becoming teenagers who will lose their innocence as they make many mistakes learning to decide for themselves. Flamingo is akin to the Pied Piper; he "gets away" at the climax because he'll always be around: There will always be a teenage spirit of rebellion, regardless of the clothes it wears. If my comments sound like several dubiously-linking threads its because the movie leaves you with this impression.

Now re-released as "B'Twixt Now & Sunrise" the director's cut is actually a little shorter than the 2011 initial release. This film is a dreamscape with lots of nightmarish, surreal visuals which, unfortunately, are not helped by a flat, cheap, shot-on-digital look (the technology has gotten a lot better since then). However, there is a lot to like here -- the horror and literary references, plus the cast. And, of course, Francis Ford Coppola movies are worth watching, especially some of the lesser known ones... for example, I liked his 'ageing backward' movie, Youth Without Youth, better than the far more popular Benjamin Button.