Rated R for drug use, violence, language and some sexuality
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, Frank Langella, Lily Rabe, Philip Baker Hall
Director: Andrew Jarecki
It's somewhat unsettling when you consider the allure of audacity. David Marks, the character at the center of "All Good Things," following the mysterious disappearance of his wife, moves from New York City to Galveston, Texas. There, he disguises himself (unconvincingly) as a mute woman, befriends a lonely war veteran named Malvern Bump, manipulates him into killing David's childhood friend who was a key person-of-interest in his wife's disappearance. After that, he ends up shooting Malvern, admits to hacksawing his body and dumping it into Galveston Bay. Marks ended up serving nine months for improper disposal of a body. He's currently a real estate investor in Florida.
Marks' implausible transformation into a woman wasn't so much an effort to evade investigation into his wife's disappearance as it was a means to distance himself from the very fiber of his being. Born into a wealthy, ruthless, brutally unforgiving family of real estate tycoons in New York City, he came to prominence in the late 70s. Yet David never possessed the social skills to thrive, was tormented over his mother's suicide while operating under the ubiquitous influence of his corrupt businessman father. Marks' testimony (based upon the real life testimony of Bob Furst) was unusually comprehensive--a life story of sorts--and serves as a kind of narration for the movie.
The choice to have Marks' defense in the Bump murder trial be all-inclusive was risky but effective, as juries seem to embrace neglected childhood stories. Casey Anthony's lawyers are attempting something like that now by proclaiming her partying ways were the result of sexual abuse, and while legal analysts like Nancy Grace and Dan Abrams have respective field days discussing the flaws in such an approach, those deficiencies are offset by the temerity in this type of mitigation. Defenses like that have worked in the past.
"All Good Things" has the plot points of a thriller but not the mechanical feel of one. This is a fascinating look into the lives of two people who want to be happy, yet one lacks the social skills to navigate a healthy relationship and the other is both too decent and too aware of her own emotional shortcomings to know when to cut and run. David (Ryan Gosling) and Katie (Kirsten Dunst) initially relocate to Vermont and open a health food store. This doesn't sit well with David's father, Sanford (Frank Langella) who pays a visit and demands his son join the family business back in NYC. David agrees, probably because he lacks the social gravitas to debate him on the matter. They move into the city, thrive financially but Katie's desire for a child becomes the first of many nails into their matrimonial coffin. David dreads the idea of fatherhood; his own upbringing being exhibit A. Their relationship becomes even more fractured when Katie pursues her own medical career. Their union disintegrates into a series of violent confrontations, as David tries to maintain a marriage he is emotionally unable to participate in.
Remarkable performances dot the narrative topography. Ryan Gosling plays David as a man prone to violence but not wittingly vile. His wife is more than a victim of his savagery; she's a prisoner of his emotional vacuity. Playing a woman we could easily judge for staying in an unhealthy union, Kirsten Dunst is terrific as a devoted soul who is resourceful enough to seek a way out, but too conflicted over her own flaws to see the true danger before her. ("My father used to say we shouldn't be ashamed of what we do... only what we don't do. But the thing is, I had an abortion," she confesses to a confidante at one point. "And I don't know what that is. Is that something I did? Or something I didn't do?")
And Frank Langella portrays Sanford as part of a generation of power broker patriarchs with a cruelly dismissive attitude toward the complexities of their children. When he finally comes clean about why he allowed his son to witness his mother's suicide, we see that his truth is far uglier than any fabrication.
Because the movie involves still unsolved crimes and iniquities, one can argue about the story's veracity. Testimonial lies play such a large part here, but director Andrew Jarecki ("Capturing the Friedmans") and screenwriters Marcus Hinchey and Marc Smerling are clever enough to understand that full depositions are never completely fabricated... only the most crucial parts. What they've masterfully done here is triangulate the details, and present the story as though offering it to a jury. The result is a perplexing, maddening, and mesmerizing film.
* * * 1/2 out of * * * * stars
