2002 Directed by D. J. Caruso
After the murder of his beloved wife, a man in search of redemption is set adrift in a world where nothing is as it seems. On his journey, he befriends slacker Jimmy "The Finn", becomes involved in rescuing his neighbor Colette from her own demons, and gets entangled in a web of deceit full of unexpected twists and turns.
Val Kilmer Vincent D'Onofrio Adam Goldberg Luis Guzmán Doug Hutchison Anthony LaPaglia Glenn Plummer Peter Sarsgaard Deborah Kara Unger Chandra West BD Wong R. Lee Ermey Shalom Harlow Shirley Knight Meat Loaf Danny Trejo Azura Skye Rex Linn Josh Todd Ricky Trammell Kenji Nakamura Paula Scarpino Mike Randleman Justine Visone Charles Carroll Lee Holmes Jerry Gauny Tanner Giles Rachel Ezra Show All…
The Salton Sea - Die Zeit der Rache, Salton Sea - Incubi e menzogne, Salton Sea, Море Солтона, Salton Denizi, Igazság helyett, A Sombra de um Homem, אגם המוות, Κύματα οργής, Jezioro Salton, Соленото езеро, 萬里追兇, THE SALTON SEA ソルトン・シー, 발 킬머의 집행자, 万里追凶, Saltono jūra
Canada18A
UK18
ItalyVM14
Spain18
USAR
Canada18A
Ireland
France
Iceland16
Netherlands16
Belgium
Norway18
Denmark
Greece
Sweden15
Austria
Germany16
Argentina16
Japan
Hungary
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Netherlands
Norway
Spain
Sweden
UK
USA
DJ Caruso (Disturbia, Eagle Eye) puts the American spin on Danny Boyle's classic Trainspotting featuring Val Kilmer as a Mark Hoppus lookalike and beach bum EDM aficionado from Venice Beach in the 00s who uses drugs to medicate the pain of losing his wife.
As with Caruso's other movies, most of them have a fun shlocky element that makes them worth and fun watching, but with the exception of Disturbia, they might never achieve some sort of cult status or have a lasting impression (though the scene of Kilmer playing the sax as everything burns around him is pretty dope). However the storyline has enough twists and turns to keep you engaged, plus there are some quick cuts and dynamic…
The Salton Sea starts where The Conversation ends - starting image and end sequence correspond. director Caruso says he wanted to create something between Hitchcock and Cassavetes but has to smile already when he’s dropping this. rather an overstylized effort to combine flashy drug race cinema and character drama, taking an ambivalent stance on his staging strategy.
After losing his wife, a man with more than one identity is deep in a world of drug abuse, crime, manipulation, and bad luck. His path leads him to the slum tenement and a downward spiral into a conspiracy full of twists and turns.
I can't remember what led me to stumble upon and add this film to my list a few days and I certainly didn't expect what is was about but I was pretty sure that I have never seen a movie associated with Castle Rock Entertainment that sucked, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
Luckily, Castle Rock kept up the streak. The Salton Sea is a plot full of intelligent twists and interesting characters. It's…
Pulpy neo-noir mashed with a Lynchian sensibility and Tarantino wannabe dialogue. It shouldn't really work for its scattershot sloppiness but it's so damn over the top that its hard to not enjoy and even harder to look away from.
Crazy, drug dealing dude without a nose recreating the Kennedy assassination with pigeons dressed in suits duct taped to a remote control car? Or how about an inexplicable throw-away scene headed by Adam Goldberg in which they scheme to steal Bob Hope's stool sample. A montage of the history of some crazy drug is funny and Oliver Stone-ish in its tendencies.
The casting director just never gives up either, just when you think you've seen every character actor you can think…
Interesting mix of noir, dark comedy, drug fuel and heavy melancholy... It deserved a better soundtrack and a tighter script. I really loved the twists though and Vincent D'Onofrio as a backwoods noseless psychopath drug dealer is creepy and unforgettable.. Val Kilmer plays his role really well too as the tortured soul seeking revenge. Having Bd Wong, Luis Guzman, Peter Saargard and Adam Goldberg in here made this a pretty fun handful of characters too .. its standard noir with a little flare..
LOL this is NOT what I was expecting, but I don't think I knew what I was expecting.
This is such a time capsule of 2002 culture: the hideous tattoos, the faux hawk, the trucker hat, the casual, uncriticized misogyny. The contrived druggy edginess is conceived of by a guy from Connecticut via Pepperdine trying to make something like "LA Trainspotting" after seeing too many Tarantino rip-offs. I cannot say that this movie is good or that it holds up, but the cast is insane and it's utterly fascinating as a product of its era.
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It reminded me a lot of Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead. Specially because there strengths and weaknesses are the same, a good cast, memorable characters. Its a good movie but it suffers from trying too hard at times to have unique or standout characters, and some of them feel forced, there are also a couple of subplots that don't get enough attention, and some cool moments that are also forced.
It may be from 2002 but it feels a lot like a 90's flick, both in a bad and a good way, i had fun and i really liked how the story played out.
It's too bad that this neat, oddball, MEMENTO-meets-TRAINSPOTTING neo-noir has kind of vanished, because it's a very cool movie with an engaging story, and it houses one of Val Kilmer's best ever performances, as a junkie police informant with ulterior motives. To say more would spoil several juicy twists.
Val Kilmer looks really cool with a mohawk and covered with tattoos, I must say. Also, this thing has such a great supporting cast of who was who in indie films, circa 1995-2005. Vincent D'Onofrio, Peter Sarsgaard, Deborah Kara Unger, Luis Guzman, Danny Trejo, Anthony LaPaglia, Doug Hutchison (before he was revealed to be as gross in real life as his characters), Adam Goldberg, Meat Loaf, R. Lee Ermey... Some of them are only there for a minute or two, but it's still cool to see them again!
Slightly overwritten but really fascinating film that mashes conventions of the drug-addict and neo-noir genres. There's a pleasingly indie cast of actors all who give good or great performances; lead Val Kilmer, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Goldberg, Doug Hutchison, and my hero Peter Sarsgaard (who we simply do not deserve on this Earth). Technical specs of what I assume was a low budget passion project are very impressive - there's a wonderful music score, great use of locations, brilliant editing (the full circle denouement is really well put together) and lovely cinematography. The story is bleak in parts and it's a tough film, but there's lots of humour, and small shards of kindness stick out, especially memorable the moment when Danny (Kilmer) patiently explains to a clueless Jimmy (Sarsgaard) who JFK was - "thank you for not making fun of me" Jimmy says.
I was barely paying attention the first time I saw The Salton Sea. Upon reading some of the reviews afterward a couple years back, I realized there was something I missed. I'm not sure why it took me over two years to give it another shot, but this time around I really paid attention to everything that happened on-screen. What an extraordinary crime-thriller! It's shocking at times, with some great performances and a surprisingly effective script. The editing is top-notch.
I didn't think I'd ever LOVE it.
87/100
i can't quite put it into words but watching this movie made me feel like i shouldn't be allowed in public lest i start raving to some poor stranger about the mournful trumpet motif in The Salton Sea (2002)
