The film examines a crisis in the life of Jim Williams (Kevin Spacey), southern gentleman, antiquarian, closet homosexual, and host to the most exclusive parties in Savannah. Though he is a character in the fullest sense of the word, Williams is not the most colorful person in the city by a long shot. There is the man who walks an invisible dog, another who ties horseflies to his head with leashes and plans to kill the entire city, and naturally, a voodoo queen. We, the outsiders, see these city attractions through John Kelson (John Cusack), a surrogate for the book's author. Kelso, a jaded New Yorker, is delighted with the hyperbolic eccentricity of the city, as he is to write an article for Town and Country magazine about Williams' Christmas party.
The party is a lavish affair, featuring the best in southern cooking (I love it when a movie makes me hungry), a display of Williams' more precious artifacts, Williams' restored house itself, colorful guests including drunken southern matrons waving loaded guns around, and finally, a killing. At some point, unwitnessed, Williams shot and killed his houseboy/lover Billy Hanson (Jude Law) after an intense argument. The rest of the film weaves a tale of Kelso getting to the bottom of the matter, Williams coming to peace with his own actions with the assistance of Kelso and Minerva the voodoo queen (Irma P. Hall), and the inevitable courtroom drama of the trial.
The film does not seem to have a standard narrative thrust, but rather, it meanders along, taking numerous side trips. Kelso abandons his idea of writing about the party, deciding instead to write a book about the death and investigation. Getting to the bottom of the killing, he runs into some other odd characters, especially the uninhibited transvestite artiste the Lady Chablis (playing herself), who Kelso at first simply wishes to testify at the trial, but later he finds fascinating and magnetic.
There are no easy answers to the questions the trial brings up. Could Williams' actions be taken as self-defense, as he claims? Are the tactics of his lawyer, prescient/reminiscent of those in the O.J. Simpson trial, justified in getting his client freed? Does Williams actually seek some solace or inner peace through his meetings with the mysterious Minerva, or is he just humoring her? None of these questions are answered, or indeed are even answerable.. The film just serves up the whole film as an illustration of real life, the life of an old-style southern town, the likes of which is totally foreign to most Americans.
Eastwood's cast is large and varied. Lady Chablis is perhaps the film's most interesting character. She walks away with every scene she appears in, particularly one at a cotillion where she attempts to corrupt Savannah's youth. Kevin Spacey as Williams seems to be hiding something never revealed to the audience, even at the end. While not on a level with his roles in The Usual Suspects and The Ref, here he at least has the chance to be verbal again, dazzling Kelso with his genteel personality. As Kelso, John Cusack turns in another fine performance. With little fanfare, Cusack has become an everyman among actors, the 90's equivalent of the 50's Jack Lemmon or the 80's Tom Hanks. Cusack gets no big scenes: his role consists of reacting to his strange surroundings, and his bemused reactions to his milieu truly make the movie.
The movie is about 150 minutes long (I'm not exactly sure, as the print I was watching broke near the end and there was a few minutes' wait for it to be repaired) and could stand to lose a few minutes here or there: perhaps from the films many codas, or the romance between Kelso and local girl Mandy (Alison "Guess who my daddy is" Eastwood). Still, I can understand any reluctance the director might have in cutting his opus. The film aspires to be poetry, and it is hard indeed to cut a poem down to size. Better an overlong poem than a routine film of any length, I say.
Three-and-a-half stars
Copyright 1998 by Dale G. Abersold
