Twixt

12/14/2013

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, i

5/18/2022

_**"The horror, the horror" of the creative process**_ Val Kilmer stars as Hall Baltimore, a third string mystery/horror writer on his latest book tour staying in a small town where he gets involved 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 with a stake? "Twixt" (2011) was reedited and renamed as “B'Twixt Now and Sunrise” by creator Francis Ford Coppola’s in 2022. It’s a mystery/dramedy with elements of horror, combining the look of Cop

3/12/2023

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.