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The first time I saw this movie, it made me fall in love with Savannah, Georgia. The movie portrayed it as an intriguing city full of irony -- a beautiful Southern belle with a dark secret or two. A place where appearances are everything.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is based on the true story of Savannah socialite Jim Williams (played by Kevin Spacey, who was made up to look almost exactly like the man himself -- eerily so), a mysterious man who was best known for the annual Christmas gala that he hosted at his historic mansion. New York journalist John Kelso (John Cusack) arrives in Savannah on assignment -- to cover the party for Town and Country. But before he leaves the mysterious Southern city, he’s thrown into the midst of a murder investigation -- his gracious host had shot Billy Carl Hanson (Jude Law), a volatile young member of his staff, claiming self-defense.
John stays in town to write about the case -- and the longer he stays, the more he discovers that things aren’t always as they appear on the surface.
Not long after I first saw this movie, I forced Deborah to watch it. The closing credits were barely over by the time we’d pulled out the atlas and planned our trip to Georgia. It’s just that intriguing. The movie, which was produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, was beautifully done -- but it couldn’t be anything but beautiful with a setting like Savannah. The characters were fascinating. And the story was spectacular (though I’ll admit that there were some parts that weren’t absolutely necessary) -- it’s a movie that becomes clearer every time I pull it off the shelf and watch it again.
After watching the movie a couple of times, I picked up the book -- and found that it was even better than the movie (see Deborah’s review). But I recommend both -- together. The spectacular story of the book mixed with the beauty and overall eeriness of the movie make up the perfect combination.
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