Currently Watching - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)

The film is fantastic but everyone should really read the book.

Clint Eastwood’s adaptation of this non-fictional novel about a murder case in Savannah is driven mostly by its rich variety of characters. John Cusack plays a young journalist hired to cover a Christmas party in the high society of Savanna Georgia. Academy award winner Kevin Spacey is the rich man hosting this annual celebration, who is also an admirer Cusack’s work. After over a half-hour of being introduced to the elaborate setting and bizarre community of modern Savannah, the story finally begins, when Spacey shoots and kills Judd Nelson, his young helper/ lover of at the Christmas Party. Because there are no witnesses, it becomes a mystery that Cusack tries to uncover himself, however the question is not "who killed him", but whether or not it was in self-defense.
Unfortunately, this question does not generate enough drama to keep an audience intrigued for over two and1/2 hours, but Eastwood does know how to give a sense of time and location. His use of color and set is successful in that the audience is given time to absorb Thompson’s unique surroundings and get a sense of the community. He creates a somewhat alien environment by immediately mixing giant willow trees and upper class citizens walking invisible dogs through beautiful parks, statue fountains and foggy cemeteries. What helps keep the audience entertained is the large display of memorable characters Cusack meets while investigating Nelson’s death. He meets a sassy transvestite, a man who attaches his pet flies to himself with strings and claims to carry enough poison in his pocket to terminate the entire town, a voodoo witch doctor who Spacey uses for black magic assistance, Spacey’s heavy set lawyer and an energetic love interest played by Alison Eastwood.
John Cusack, who is in many people’s opinions one of the most over looked actors in Hollywood, delivers a very restrained performance. This is a good thing because he knows not to over act, especially with the character he is portraying. However, the character doesn’t bring much excitement to the screen. Kevin Spacey is successful in sounding like a native of Savannah, and compliments the movie and its setting.
It is an ensemble cast in an interesting setting, with great visuals, but the movie drags on for too long in an attempt to make a rather simple plot more intriguing. Had the film been shorter with more editing it might have been able to maintain the attention of the audience through out the whole thing. But the really interesting scenes are a bit too selective and it is easy to lose interest then regain it several times in two and ½ hours. There is some chemistry between John Cusack and Alison Eastwood, but it’s the scenes between their affair in where Spacey revisits the night of the murder that keeps us interested.