The Salton Sea
Year: 2002
Directed by: D.J. Caruso
Written by: Tony Gayton
Starring: Val Kilmer, Vincent D’Onofrio, B.D. Wong, Luis Guzman and Peter Sarsgaard
Other Info: 103 mins / Warner Brothers / Rated R
The Salton Sea follows a man who doesn’t know if he’s Danny Parker, speed freak and government snitch or Thomas Van Allen: trumpet player. The truth lies somewhere between the two.
The Salton Sea is as close to a David Lynch movie you’ll find with out having been created by the man himself. The combination of highly stylized visuals, music, words and acting bring to mind the best that Lynch has to offer. It’s quite obvious that both Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive had some influence on the world that director Caruso and writer Gayton have created.
Slowly though, the film turns from a meth fueled crank fest to an emotional and complex drama. The visuals and music deftly follow this arc as well, starting frantic and frenzied, turning slow and contemplative. It’s one of the few perfect marriages of concepts, art, music and acting that I have seen in a long while.
Val “Stinky” Kilmer, is natural and as good as his work in Tombstone and Top Gun. It’s a nuanced performance that really uses Kilmer’s natural sedentary performance to the greatest effect. You can almost believe that this trumpet player can become the man he does.
Another reason I love the movie: it presents another view of Southern California, separate from the usual sunny Los Angeles that you usually see in the movies. This is the world of the Inland Empire and Imperial Counties: trailers, meth labs. Things that are close to me (geographically, not in my heart) and it’s nice to see such a unflinching look at the people that inhabit these locations
The supporting cast and cameos are excellent and filled with some of my favorite actors: Vincent D’Onofrio, BD Wong, Luis Guzman, Danny Trejo, Meatloaf, R. Lee Ermey and Kara Unger – a veritable who’s who in the world of modern character acting. As you may know from reading the reviews on this site, supporting casts, even in the smallest roles, can make or break a film. This cast certainly makes the film. The makers of The Salton Sea obviously care about the actors inhabiting roles don’t throw it off to their cousin Gino from Long Island, rather giving it to people with varied careers and all around talent.
The Salton Sea is an amazing and accomplished film that should have received more attention and will become part of the serious canon of the American drug film.
Movie Grade: A / A+ (or somewhere in between the two)
Video Grade: 4 out of 5
The movie is shot in various styles, stocks and speeds so it’s hard to evaluate. But it looks great although the movie tends towards the desaturated and brown.
1.88:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Audio Grade: 4 out of 5
To tell you the truth, there’s not a whole lot of stuff going on with the audio, but what is there is presented in rich, full and dynamic sound.
English (Dolby 5.1), French (Dolby 5.1)
Extras and Misc: 2 out of 5
All in all, about twenty minutes of featurettes which isn’t bad, but with such a good film, you want more. There’s some nice information on art and filming, but really nothing else but some bios. The disc is a single disc in a keepcase.
Overall: 4 out of 5
The movie is so unavoidably great, that it would be the perfect addition alongside Requiem for a Dream, Mulholland Drive and The Limey.