Think of Edgar Ulmer rising from the dead to direct an episode of HBO’s Tales From the Crypt, or David Lynch going back in time to direct an episode of The Twilight Zone, and you’ll have a pretty clear idea of what actor/first time director Thomas Jane (2004's Marvel- noir The Punisher, HBO's hit series Hung) accomplishes with his 2009 film Dark Country (apparently located in the outskirts of a place called “Dark City”), long available on 2D-DVD, but making its Bay Area big screen 3D debut this Friday, November 18 at The Castro Theater in San Francisco. Eddie Muller (of "Noir City" fame) will be interviewing Thomas Jane on stage before this one-time screening, and the live portions will be filmed for a special edition 3-D DVD that is in the works. Admission is $12, showtime is 7:30PM. I strongly recommend that all local film noir fans attend this event. Here is the rest of my review originally published in The Noir City Sentinel, reprinted here with slight edits:
This self consciously made film noir/horror hybrid (a la Daughter of Horror, 1955) was indeed shot in 3D but even when viewed flat on a TV screen, you can “feel” the depth of field in every garishly colored, carefully calculated shot. There are so many influences going on at once that it seems more like a fan-boy fantasy than a real movie, but as a piece of low budget, high concept pulp entertainment, it works. Just don’t look too hard for that fourth dimension, and you’ll enjoy yourself.
While this is far from being the first noir shot in 3D (1953’s I, The Jury is perhaps the most famous precedent), the whole project does seem quite ambitious if not entirely innovative. Jane was admittedly going for the look of a 3D comic book, particularly inspired by the work of contemporary artist Tim Bradstreet, who was a visual consultant. The plot is like an EC Comics version of Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day (1993). If it seems I keep mish-mashing pop cultural references in an attempt to describe this film, that is an accurate charge. It’s such a deliberate hodgepodge of hipster cinema history that I’m not sure who it would appeal to beyond the hardcore film fan fringe. Someone coming into it totally cold may find it startlingly original. For someone like me, who digs both movies and comic books, its vividly derivative elements may not be particularly refreshing, but they are put together with a satisfactory – sometimes stunning - sense of style.
Of course, some discerning critics may take issue with certain aspects of the final product, all obvious intentions aside. For one thing, the script (by Tab Murphy) is very bare bones and the dialogue, I graciously assume, is intentionally clichéd. In the beginning Jane’s pat reading of the narration and the interplay with his vivacious but increasingly mysterious new bride (earthily sexy Lauren German), whom he married after a brief whirlwind courtship in Vegas, seems a bit too bland. But fairly quickly you realize he’s doing the same thing George Clooney did in Soderbergh’s similarly experimental curio The Good German – mimicking the wooden thespian style popular in that period (roughly mid-century). The odd exception is that Country, unlike German, isn’t set in any particular era, another aesthetic choice that further disorients the viewer while enhancing its surreal and eventually nightmarish ambience. Jane’s character is like a ‘40s drifter in a ‘60s car coasting through a possibly (but not definitely) contemporary landscape, while his wife talks and looks like a floozy straight out of a ‘70s grindhouse car chase flick. The soundtrack (by Eric Lewis) is a mix of classic jazz and Angelo Badalamenti-type mood music. It’s a nostalgic heaven that slowly then suddenly sinks into a retro hell.
Dark Country belongs in the same neo-noir “pulp fiction” subcategory as Union City (1980) starring Deborah Harry and The Woman Chaser (1999) starring Patrick Warburton. These are strongly stylized films that festishize our collective memories of a past that most of us only experienced via cinema, anyway.
The ubiquitous Ron Perlman shows up rather late in the proceedings as an intense, burned out and slightly insane highway cop, and by the time this happens, the story has taken so many bizarre little turns that Perlman’s offbeat persona fits right in. You’re not sure how and even now, after I’ve seen the entire film, I’m still not convinced exactly what role his character was meant to play in the overall scheme of things. There is no clear-cut resolution and the explanation for the cyclical storyline can be attributed to either a hallucinatory or supernatural factor. Inspiring post-viewing debate is apparently part of the filmmaker’s plan. Many may find that trick both lazy and annoying. It didn’t bother me.
There is a downward spiral sensation in effect here that is very noir and keeps the viewer enthralled, especially through the rather treacly scenes early on. As in classic noir, the fact that the characters are both victims and perpetuators of their own fates becomes gradually then painfully evident. The sense of inevitable doom is palpable, even in this comic book context. As you probably will, I guessed the denouement, such as it is, around the midpoint, but that didn’t ruin the journey for me. This film would make a great drive-in double bill with either Jennifer Lynch’s fellow horror-mystery Surveillance or 2009's faithful homage to 50s sci-fi, Alien Trespass. All three films take place amid bleak, mysterious desert terrain. No question about it – noir is hot property all over again, and Dark Country, with all its post-post-modern irony, is one cool, if creepy, customer.
Will "the Thrill" Viharo is a pulp fiction author and B Movie impresario.
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