Kalifornia (1993)

Kalifornia is a pretty decent early 90’s thriller. It is nowhere near as good as Se7en, but is worth watching just to see a young Brad Pitt act circles around everyone else in the cast, especially Mr. Duchovny.

The story follows Brian Kessler, a budding true crime novelist played by David Duchovny, and Carrie Laughlin, a very stereotypical 90s artsy New York photographer, as they take a trip across the country researching famous murder cites for Brain’s new book. For some reason this hip, urban couple can’t afford to pay for the gas on this trip that finishes in California, so they enlist the help of some strangers, played by Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis, to help share some of the expenses.

This is where the story gets interesting. Early and Adele, played by Pitt and Lewis respectively, are the driving force behind this movie. Lewis plays the extremely naïve and simple-minded Adele with perfection, and it’s an early sign of some of the great roles she would have later in her career in films like Natural Born Killers and The Other Sister. The real stand out performance here belongs to the one and only Mr. Brad Pitt.

Pitt’s Early is all at once scary, funny, intelligent, moronic, rude, and thoughtful. He is a sociopath that kills on a whim, but shows signs of remorse when he knows that what he has done is bad. The script hints at an abusive father in his past, but never flat out tells the viewer what is wrong with Early. Watching Pitt in this early role, it is easy to see why he became the super star that he is today. While at the same time it is easy to see why David Duchovny did not. David should have never taken a role opposite Pitt because it is painfully obvious in every scene they share, that Pitt is the superior actor.

Anyway, back to the story. Somewhere along the trip, Brian and Carrie discover that Early is indeed a homicidal maniac. This fact distresses Carrie a great deal, and when she finally witnesses a murder first hand, the fun road trip comes to a screeching halt. Adele also has to face the harsh reality that the man she loves is a cold-blooded killer, and she copes with it in her own unique ways.

Like in any good thriller things keep escalating until the final showdown between the two male leads. The winner in this case is, unfortunately, Dochovny’s character.

Duchovny’s performance here is not even worth talking about. At the time this movie was made he was becoming very famous for his role on the X-Files. His character is this movie might as well have been named Mulder, because I don’t think anyone would be able to tell them apart. He also gets to narrate the movie, which was a horrible choice on someone’s part.

Up next I am going to follow Juliette Lewis to her role in 2005’s Aurora Borealis. Which also stars Donald Sutherland and takes place in Minneapolis.