The Films of D.J. Caruso

Black Cat Run

Mind Prey

The Salton Sea (October 1/02)

The Salton Sea casts Val Kilmer as Danny, a speed freak who spends his days hanging with a ragtag group of fellow addicts. But as we soon learn, he wasn't always that way; his name used to be Tom and he was a trumpet player married to a beautiful woman. After her murder, however, Tom became Danny - an undercover informant for the cops. It's there that he plans to track down his wife's murderer, but it's not long before he finds himself unwittingly drawn into this sleazy world. The opening scenes of The Salton Sea don't hold much promise, but there's little doubt that movie improves considerably as it progresses. This shift is due primarily to the casting of Vincent D'Onofrio as a sleazebag named Pooh Bear, as the actor's almost insanely entertaining performance essentially takes the film to an entirely different level (how could it not, really; this is, after all, a character who stages a reenactment of the Kennedy assassination using pigeons - complete with a pink-pillbox-hat-wearing Jackie O. pigeon). Likewise, Kilmer effectively steps into the shoes of a heartbroken trumpet player with apparent ease and certainly offers up one of the best performances of his career. Filmmaker D.J. Caruso deserves some recognition for his directorial choices - which are stylish without being intrusive. There's a moment late in the film, for example, in which Danny must figure out how many rounds are left in a gun, and Caruso inserts a rapid-fire count of each bullet being shot. Interesting stylistic elements like that, combined with D'Onofrio's flat-out jaw-dropping performance, ensure that The Salton Sea remains worth a look - even for viewers who generally eschew films revolving around the drug scene.

out of

Taking Lives

Two for the Money

Disturbia