Movie Type: Post-Noir (Modern Noir), Crime Thriller
Themes: Double Life, Drug Trade, Out For Revenge
Main Cast: Val Kilmer
Release Year: 2002
Country: US
Run Time: 103 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
The feature film debut of producer and TV director D.J. Caruso, this pulpy noir mystery is a dark tale of redemption set among southern California crystal methamphetamine "tweakers." Val Kilmer stars as Danny Parker, a former trumpet player who has become a tattooed speed freak living in a cesspool of murderous dealers and hardcore addicts near the desert lake of the title. Danny's fall from grace is the result of a hidden agenda, however -- he's seeking answers about the murder of his beloved wife. He's also working undercover for a pair of brutal narcotics cops (Anthony Lapaglia and Doug Hutchison), while trying to rescue his beautiful neighbor Colette (Deborah Kara Unger) from an abusive situation and her own demons. As he and his slacker buddy Jimmy the Fin (Peter Sarsgaard) are antagonized by the sadistic, noseless dealer Pooh Bear (Vincent D'Onofrio) and his henchman, Danny draws closer to the truth about his wife's death, but the crime's solution isn't quite what he expected. Produced by Frank Darabont, The Salton Sea co-stars Adam Goldberg, Meat Loaf, Luis Guzman, and Azura Skye. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Review
A one-time producer for John Badham, director D.J. Caruso scores a significant artistic success (if not, unfortunately, a financial hit) with this taut psychological thriller that strikes a fascinatingly mournful tone and features the best performance from erratic star Val Kilmer in years. Much of what is so compelling and effective about the film can be chalked up to a superb script from writer Tony Gayton that mixes elements of the noir genre with the fiendishly absurd sensibilities and violent underworld characters of Quentin Tarantino and Danny Boyle. But credit is due to the director and star. Caruso gets things off to a zippy, attention-grabbing flourish of a kick start with a rapid-cut, quasi-documentary on the history of methamphetamine and its users or "tweakers," while Kilmer impresses with a performance that begins as wan and spaced-out, but is gradually revealed, layer by layer, to be far more cunningly intelligent and manipulative than one initially expects. It's a performance of nuance and grace, with the often too-eccentric actor nailing a deft bull's eye. Well-chosen supporting players are uniformly strong, with Vincent D'Onofrio a flashy standout as a drug dealer missing a nose along with quite a few marbles. It all comes back to that script from Gayton, however, one that takes the audience on an emotional roller-coaster ride as the story manages to shift seamlessly into a completely different mode with each act turn, ultimately transforming from a painfully funny drug satire into a heart-wrenching tragedy of violent revenge. Gayton is a crime screenwriter to watch, quite literally. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Douglas Cumming - Art Director, Deborah Aquila - Casting, Karyn Wagner - Costume Designer, Tony Adler - First Assistant Director, D.J. Caruso - Director, Jim Page - Editor, Jim Behnke - Executive Producer, Thomas Newman - Composer (Music Score), K.N.B. EFX Group - Makeup Special Effects, Tom Southwell - Production Designer, Amir Mokri - Cinematographer, Eriq La Salle - Producer, Frank Darabont - Producer, Butch Robinson - Producer, Ken Aguado - Producer, Eric Sundhal - Set Designer, Tim Cooney - Sound/Sound Designer, Jim Behnke - Unit Production Manager, Tony Gayton - Screenwriter, David Sosalla - Visual Effects Supervisor, Darrell D. Pritchett - Special Effects Coordinator, Howell Gibbens - Supervising Sound Editor, RIOT Pictures - Visual Effects, Amanda Moss Serino - Set Decorator
Thomas Newman's patient score for the revenge drama The Salton Sea is filled with such an honest sense of noir that one can't help wondering if the man moonlights as a P.I. As a whole, the soft pianos and long string cues resonate like a chillier version of his excellent work on 1994's The Shawshank Redemption. His deep understanding of the human condition is evident during the dreamy "Gun Cemetery." With it's atonal piano notes falling like misled raindrops, it resembles an instrumental rendering of the image-laden "9th and Hennepin" off of Tom Waits' Rain Dogs album. The spooky solo trumpet on the atmospheric "First Wife" and "Saeta" closely mirrors the protagonist's lonely vigilantism, causing the sultry Rhodes-led groove on "Glock Semi-Automatic" to sound like an out of control freight train. Newman's mastery of the organic and the processed world of sounds has a great deal to do with his talent for seamlessness -- the gritty backwards guitar loop that opens "Palmdale Monty" simply sounds like an instrument in the composers repertoire -- and his otherworldly restraint. By refusing to fill the space between each breath, car chase, and gunfight, he unleashes a much more effective beast, a quiet and elegant bombast. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide
Steve Kujala (Flute), Steve Kujala (Soloist), Steve Kujala (Drones), John Beasley (Organ (Hammond)), John Beasley (Drum Programming), John Beasley (Wurlitzer), John Beasley (Soloist), Sue Raney (Bass), Marilyn Baker (Viola), Sid Page (Violin), Bob Adcock (Cello), Terence Blanchard (Trumpet), Terence Blanchard (Soloist), Mari Tsumura (Violin), Jacqueline Brand (Violin), Denyse Buffum (Viola), Darius Campo (Violin), Carole Castillo (Viola), Ronald Clark (Violin), Larry Corbett (Cello), Brian Dembow (Viola), Joel Derouin (Violin), George Doering (Guitar), George Doering (Mandolin), George Doering (Sitar), George Doering (?), George Doering (Soloist), Erika Duke-Kirkpartick (Cello), Stephen Erdody (Cello), Christine Ermacoff (Cello), Richard Feves (Bass), Michael Fisher (Drums), Michael Fisher (Tabla), Michael Fisher (Tamboura), Michael Fisher (Tympani [Timpani]), Michael Fisher (Drum Loop), Michael Fisher (Soloist), Berj Garabedian (Violin), Harris Goldman (Violin), Endre Granat (Violin), Alan Grunfeld (Violin), Norman Hughes (Violin), Joel Iwataki (Engineer), Joel Iwataki (Remixing), Joel Iwataki (Mixing), Dennis Karmazyn (Cello), Razdan Kutumjain (Violin), Janet Lakatos (Viola), Kathleen Lenski (Violin), Brian Leonard (Violin), Linda Lipsett (Viola), Earl Madison (Cello), Michael Markman (Violin), Jorge Moraga (Viola), Bruce Morgenthaler (Bass), Leslie Morris (Music Contractor), Carole Mukogawa (Viola), Dan Neufeld (Viola), Robin Olson (Violin), Simon Oswell (Viola), Thomas Pasatieri (Orchestration), Katia Popov (Violin), Barbara Porter (Violin), Karie Prescott (Viola), Anatoly Rosinsky (Violin), Mark Sazer (Violin), Danny Seidenberg (Violin), Harry Shirinian (Viola), Haim Shtrum (Violin), Tina Soule (Cello), David Speltz (Cello), Steve Tavaglione (Sax (Baritone)), Steve Tavaglione (EWI), Steve Tavaglione (Soloist), Steve Tavaglione (Sample Voices), Raymond Tischer (Viola), Robert Townson (Executive Producer), Richard Treat (Cello), Ian Walker (Bass), Roger Wilkie (Violin), Ken Yerke (Violin), John Scanlon (Viola), Dave Stone (Bass), Ann Atkinson (Bass), Dmitri Boviard (Viola), George Budd (Gong), George Budd (Soloist), George Budd (Amplifiers), Rick Cox (Guitar (Electric)), Rick Cox (Soloist), Rick Cox (Mouthpiece), Matt Funes (Viola), Patricia Sullivan (Mastering), Ed Meares (Bass), Chas Smith (Pedal Steel), Chas Smith (Soloist), Chas Smith (Resonator), Suzie Katayama (Cello), Mario Diaz de Leon (Violin), Bill Bernstein (Piano), Bill Bernstein (Guitar (Electric)), Bill Bernstein (Producer), Bill Bernstein (?), Bill Bernstein (Music Editor), Bill Bernstein (Soloist), Natalie Leggett (Violin), Carolyn Osborn (Violin), Julian Bratolyubov (Music Preparation), Christian Kollgaard (Bass), Norman Ludwin (Bass), Vicki Miskolczy (Viola), Rafael Rishik (Violin), Nico Carmine Abondolo (Bass), Al Hershberger (Violin), Phillipe Levy (Violin), Gary Kuo (Violin), Mike Zainer (Assistant Engineer), Frances Liu Wu (Bass), Rachel Purkin (Violin), Susan Rishik (Violin), Guillermo Romero (Violin), Eun Mee Ahn (Violin), Tiffiany Yi Hu (Violin), Eve Butler (Violin), Robert Gerry (Violin), Ok Hee Kim (Assistant Engineer), Robert Decker (Viola), Oscar Hidalgo (Bass), Horia Moroaica (Violin), Liane Mautner (Violin), Frances Moore (Violin), Vahe Hayrikyan (Cello), Aimee Kreston (Violin), Karen Jones (Violin), Robert Matsuda (Violin), Becky Bunnell (Violin), Steve Richards (Cello)
A man (Kilmer) narrates the events of the movie while playing the trumpet in a burning room. He states that previously he was Danny Parker, a speed freak addicted to methamphetamine, who hangs out in the house of friends while indulging his drug habit. He also moonlights as a police informant to two dirty cops, Gus Morgan (Hutchinson) and Al Garcetti (LaPaglia). Meanwhile he is trying to set up a large meth score with a notorious drug dealer Pooh Bear (D'Onofrio), an eccentric psychopath who lost his nose to excessive snorting of "Gack" (street term for methamphetamine). This is also to set up a sting operation orchestrated by Morgan and Garcetti.
But when he returns home, Danny sheds his clothes and his personality and takes time to bask in a past life as a trumpet player named Tom Van Allen. Danny/Tom reveals to an abused neighbor Colette (Kara Unger) that he was once happily married only to have his wife gunned down by thieves of a house when they happened to stop by and ask directions.
When meeting with Pooh Bear to set up the drug deal, Danny/Tom tapes a gun to the bottom of his dinner table. It's here that Pooh Bear displays clear and bizarre homicidal behavior, which Danny/Tom becomes fearful of.
Danny/Tom's father and mother in law track him down after learning of his drug problems. They believe he has sunken into depression after his wife's death. He tells them that he doesn't want their help. As the day to the deal comes closer, it becomes known that Danny/Tom is not only working for the police but the FBI who are trying to take down Morgan and Garcetti, who have been responsible for multiple murders and robberies on and off the job. It's also revealed that Morgan and Garcetti were the men who shot Danny/Tom and killed his wife as they robbed a meth dealer. Danny/Tom had started his own investigation when he found out who Morgan was and delved into the meth underworld to become a believable junkie and inevitable informant.
On the night of the deal, Danny/Tom leads the FBI to the wrong location with the help of his best friend Jimmy (Sarsgaard). Meanwhile Tom/Danny has already arrived at Pooh Bear's house. At the dinner table, surrounded by Pooh Bear's armed friends, Danny/Tom tries to get the gun he stashed loose. He does so just as tensions rise and Pooh Bear tries to kill him. Danny/Tom frantically kills his gang but is then shot by Pooh Bear who then goes into the living room to take a hit of meth. Morgan and Garcetti arrive to find the massacre. Garcetti kills Pooh Bear, who is then killed by Danny/Tom, who survived with a bulletproof vest. Morgan is wounded and Danny/Tom asks him if he were put in the situation Danny/Tom was in years ago, to either try to fight and die with his wife or hide and live to fight another day, which would he do.
Morgan overpowers Danny/Tom, taking his gun, and tells him he would fight and live rather than live like a punk like Danny/Tom. However, the gun that Morgan has taken is empty, and Danny/Tom injects Morgan with Pooh Bear's syringe of mixed drugs. Danny/Tom then kills Morgan and flees to his apartment. He dons his Tom Van Allen identity again, but is then shot by Colette's supposed abusive "boyfriend" (Guzman) who is actually a man Danny/Tom ratted out to the police. The room is set aflame, and Danny/Tom plays one more tune before passing out.
He is saved however by Jimmy. Later it is revealed that he has laid the identities of Danny Parker or Tom Van Allen to rest. And that he now wants to live life as a new person, one with a hopefully brighter future.
