This debut feature film from music video director Dominic Sena is a romp through the world of serial killing, which in its bleakness and moral bankruptcy looks backwards to Terrence Malick's Badlands and forward to Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers. Michelle Forbes plays hip, Mapplethorpe-esque photographer Carrie Laughlin, who wants to move to California for a fresh start. Her boyfriend, Brian Kessler (David Duchovny), is a writer who has an idea for a new book, a travel tome on the sites of serial murders. The two plan to go on a cross-country tour of the murder sites, with Brian writing the commentary and Carrie taking the pictures. But they need a couple to share the driving expenses; enter Grayce (Brad Pitt) and his girlfriend, Adele (Juliette Lewis, in a warm-up for her role in Natural Born Killers). Grayce is an ex-con looking to jump parole, while Adele is a childlike naïf. Soon the four are off to California, but the yuppie couple doesn't realize how close they are to their serial killer topic. It seems Grayce has murdered his landlord before their trip and bodies begin piling up disturbingly behind them as they make their way across the country. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
Review
Half-assed in its edginess but full-on trashy, this blood-drenched road movie features an over-the-top Brad Pitt in his Method actor phase; a dead-on Juliette Lewis as yet another special-ed Lolita; a pre-X-Files David Duchovny warming up his Fox Mulder persona; and an icy Michelle Forbes as a castrating intellectual poseur. Pitt's Early Grayce is the most unlikely and over-the-top collection of cheekbones, tics, abs, and guttersnipe slang ever to grace the silver screen. The actor allegedly broke a tooth while opening a beer bottle with his teeth to get into character, and such dedication shows in every nasal snort and lascivious leer. Duchovny's Brian Kessler narrates with incessant banality, lending more sympathy to the serial-killer antagonist than to his own stupid yuppie self. Lewis shows off her considerable skills in a role designed to be sexy, tacky, and pitiable at the same time, while Forbes is a study in minimalism -- all scowl, severe bangs, and artistic pretension. Dominic Sena, who moved from music videos to Kalifornia to a career as a would-be action auteur, infuses each frame of his film with flashy shades of dread, but he never achieves the disturbing grittiness of later Pitt vehicle Seven or even the amphetamine overkill of the Lewis-starring Natural Born Killers. In fact, Kalifornia actually works better as a comedy: a violent and bitchy update of the mixed-doubles scenarios that powered such classic sitcoms as The Honeymooners and I Love Lucy. Oh, that wacky murderer and his ditsy girlfriend. Oh, that pseudo-transgressive photographer and her sensitive new age guy. Put 'em together and you have a movie that's entertaining in spite of itself -- one that exposes the shallowness of urban hipsterdom by wallowing in the supposed depravities of the trailer-park set. Not exactly a light or unlifting viewing experience, but hey -- it's a lot more fun than watching Anthony Hopkins cook Ray Liotta's brains. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
Gregory Mars Martin - Walter Livesay; Judson Vaughn - Parole Officer; David Rose - Eric; John Dullaghan - Mr.Musgrave; Lois Hall - Mrs.Musgrave; Ron Kuhlman - Male Officer; Catherine Larson - Teenage Girl; Brett Rice - Police Officer; John Zarchen - Peter; Pat Golden; Patricia Sill - Carol; Carol Lewis; Meredith Brasher - Kim; David Milford - Driver; Eric Stenson - Young Cracker; Mary Ann Hagen - Waitress
Credit
Jeff Mann - Art Director, Carol Lewis - Casting, Kristine J. Schwarz - Co-producer, Thomas Patrick Smith - First Assistant Director, Eric Mofford - First Assistant Director, Dominic Sena - Director, Martin Hunter - Editor, Lynn Bigelow - Executive Producer, M. James Kouf Jr. - Executive Producer, Carter Burwell - Composer (Music Score), Michelle Buhler - Makeup, Michael White - Production Designer, Bojan Bazelli - Cinematographer, Steve Golin - Producer, Sigurjon Sighvatsson - Producer, Gregory Goodman - Producer, Aris McGarry - Producer, Kate J. Sullivan - Set Designer, Stephen Levy - Screen Story, Tim Metcalfe - Screen Story, Stephen Levy - Screenwriter, Tim Metcalfe - Screenwriter, Kevin Bartnof - Foley Artist
An undistinguished rock sampler, the highlights of which are X's "Lettuce And Vodka" and David Baerwald's "Born For Love." Score composer Carter Burrell is restricted to one, moody track. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi
Kalifornia (1993) is an American thriller/road film, directed by Dominic Sena and starring Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis, David Duchovny, and Michelle Forbes. The film focuses on an aspiring writer (Duchovny) and his photographer girlfriend (Forbes) who are traveling cross-country to research serial killers. To help pay for gas, they take along a man (Pitt) and his childlike girlfriend (Lewis), unaware that the man is a killer himself.
Brian Kessler (David Duchovny) is a graduate student in Psychology and a journalist authoring a book about serial killers. His photographer girlfriend Carrie Laughlin (Michelle Forbes) persuades him to move to California; and, when his book project is accepted by a publisher, they decide to drive from Pittsburgh to California and visit infamous murder sites along the way. Short on funds, Brian posts a ride-share ad.
Meanwhile, parolee Early Grayce (Brad Pitt) has just lost his job. His Parole Officer (Judson Vaughn) learns of this and comes to the trailer park where Early lives with his young girlfriend Adele Corners (Juliette Lewis). Early refuses the officer's offer of a job as a college janitor, saying he wants to leave the state. The officer informs him that, if he doesn't keep the appointment, he will be returned to prison. Early decides to go to the job interview; and, when he's on his way out, he is confronted by the landlord over non-payment of rent. Early grows violent and spins out in his car, chasing the man all over the park.
Early spies the ride-share ad at the college and calls Brian, who agrees to meet him the following day. Early sends Adele ahead and, as revealed later, murders the landlord before joining Adele to wait for Brian and Carrie. Carrie's first response to seeing the rough-hewn couple is to suggest Brian turn the car around and leave, but Brian asks her to give the plan a chance, and she reluctantly agrees.
On the road, unbeknownst to his companions, Early murders a man in a gas station bathroom and steals his money. When they arrive at the first hotel, he cuts Adele's hair to match Carrie's. At another hotel, Early invites Brian out to play pool, leaving Adele and Carrie alone together. Adele reveals to Carrie that she is a rape victim and that she views Early as her protector, even though her mother didn't approve because Early had just been released from prison. Carrie is alarmed by Brian's growing fascination with Early and nonchalant response to the news that Early has been in prison. She gives him an ultimatum—either they rid themselves of Early and Adele or she will leave.
At the next gas station, Carrie glimpses a newscast with footage of Early and the announcement he is a suspected murderer. Early kills the gas-station attendant and continues the trip with the couple as hostages. They encounter two police officers, whom Early shoots. Early orders Brian to finish off one of the wounded officers, but Brian refuses. They next come to the home of an elderly couple. Early beats the man to death, but Adele allows the woman to flee. As Early rushes to find the woman, Adele confronts him and says she wants nothing more to do with him. Early shoots Adele, strikes Brian on the head, and kidnaps Carrie.
Brian regains consciousness, and the elderly woman gives him the keys to her truck. Brian arrives at an abandoned nuclear testing site and surprises Early, hitting him in the head with a shovel. Brian finds Carrie bloodied and handcuffed to a bed. Early, who was only stunned, attacks Brian and they struggle until Carrie hits Early in the head. When Early continues the attack, Brian shoots him dead.
The film ends with Brian and Carrie in a California beach house. She tells him that a gallery is interested in her art, and he suggests they go out to celebrate. He leaves his tape player on; and Adele's voice is heard, talking about how good Carrie and Brian were to her and Early and how much their friendship means to her.
Kalifornia received mixed to positive reviews; it currently holds a 67% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[1] It was a box office bomb, only grossing $2,395,231[2] based on a supposed $9 million budget.
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