Down by the Valley..............what a surreal, touching, phenomenally acted and written movie, man. I was getting worried there for a moment with Norton's seeming indiscriminate choosings of movie scripts lately in such memorable films as Death to Smoochy, Italian Job, The Score and even Red Dragon, but this small, subtle and meaningful flick like this one has got 'em back on track as one of the best actors of this generation, man. I have yet to see The Painted Veil, but this has got to be his best performance since Fight Club? Or Maybe The 25th hour?...... I can't decide which, but yeah, anyway. I highly recommend this, yalls.
I'm not really big on raving about someone who already gets his due respect from most, but....WHAT A ******* ACTOR, man.....sheesh!
Both the direction and writing is highly reminiscent of the Cohen brothers, the supporting cast was well chosen and they propelled this movie into an Indie classic imo. Evan Rachel Wood, what can I say.....the reigning champion portrayer of angst ridden teens. What a breathtakingly stunning actress, man. I fell over heels for this chick when I first saw Thirteen, then I saw her in a couple other flicks since and she's yet to disappoint me once. Infact, she's just becoming more exceptional with each role....yeah, you can tell, eh? I'm severely in love with this girl, man. She's about the prettiest thing going in the movies today, but she's also extraordinarily talented. Rory Culkin...wow. He was equally awe-inspiring with his subtlety, depth and grasp of his character, man. He's almost equalled his performance from Mean Creek. I just hope that growing out of child actordom isn't a bitch like it was to his older brother because this kid is truly genuine.......what skill and range for a kid his age, man. Those Culkin kids have it in their genes, man. I'm sure of it. David Morse? Another solidly dependable and yet still impactful performance from him. Definitely one of the more underrated character actors going around in Hollywood today, man.
P.S....Folks, you can never go wrong with Mazzy Star as your background music in a movie....there aren't many things in this world more beautiful than Hope Sandoval's voice and lyrics, man