{"id":37944,"date":"2022-09-19T15:11:14","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T19:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=37944"},"modified":"2023-01-03T11:23:06","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T16:23:06","slug":"bad-movie-monday-twixt-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2022\/09\/19\/bad-movie-monday-twixt-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"BAD MOVIE MONDAY: TWIXT (2011)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I think one of the biggest problems with TWIXT is the title. It makes the movie sound like it\u2019s the live action adaptation of a children\u2019s cartoon about plucky ghosts going to school at night and getting taught English by Edgar Alan Poe. A title like TWIXT makes it sound like it should have its own section at the toy aisle in Wal-Mart. In fact, that\u2019s the actual reason I never paid attention to the film when it came out. I thought it was a kid\u2019s movie. It was only more than a decade later that I realized my mistake, and that it was a horror movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola that starred Val Kilmer and Bruce Dern. THEN it got my attention.
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\nQuick Recap! When COVID shut down everything in early 2020, I started an online bad movie night get-together with some friends that we eventually dubbed \u201cBad Movie Monday\u201d. The premise was simple: We\u2019d torture each other every Monday with the worst trash we could find, tell a few jokes, cheer each other up, and in the process maybe discover some weird obscure cinema that we might never have seen any other way. Eventually, this evolved into watching movies that I feel are often quite good. However, I still call it Bad Movie Monday because a lot of these movies aren\u2019t \u201cgood\u201d in the traditional sense and I\u2019m too lazy to change the title. This series of reviews will feature highlights of those night, so you can all share in the fun and maybe get some ideas for your own movie night.<\/em><\/p>\n

Francis Ford Coppola is one of the greatest filmmakers who ever lived. So, technically, I shouldn\u2019t choose one of his films for Bad<\/em> Movie Monday. However, he\u2019s also a passionate artist and madman who throws himself head first into projects and takes on way more than he can handle. This can and will often lead to catastrophe, because there\u2019s only so many balls you can juggle at the same time before you drop everything in a spectacular crash. The fact that most of his films are so highly rated despite being utter chaos behind the scenes is a testament to his talent. However, that doesn\u2019t mean he doesn\u2019t make mistakes. Movies like \u201cOne from the Heart\u201d or \u201cJack\u201d are certainly good examples of when he didn\u2019t quite save it. So where does his 2011 film TWIXT fit in all of this?<\/p>\n

Well, from what I\u2019ve read, Coppola had grand ideas for this movie. Originally he wanted to be able to live edit the film, like a conductor, as the audience watched it in a theatre. Kind of like a \u201cChoose your own adventure\u201d thing where audience reaction would decide the pacing and storylines and tone. So the fact that TWIXT is a bit messy and meandering, to put it mildly, is kind of on purpose. The whole thing was meant to be a fluid and ever changing experience.<\/p>\n

However, the reason I admire it is also the reason why it\u2019s kind of a bad movie. With a \u201cstatic\u201d edit that tries to highlight most of the subplots and ideas at the same time the film feels all over the damn place. At some point this is a mystery with no real clues about an investigation with no real answer about a murder with no real victim based on a sordid old secret that may never have happened, and all of it is littered with so many red herrings that you could fill a lake with them.<\/p>\n

Yet, how could I dislike it? The film has a vision and a heart and all these crazy ideas in its head. It\u2019s the work of an artist and craftsman, not a studio committee. TWIXT, I feel, is Coppola\u2019s attempt at making a small-scale digital film that\u2019s close to his heart without having to answer to money men or producers or anybody. A movie where he could do whatever he wanted and tell any story he wanted. It\u2019s a movie entirely created by an artist who has no fucks left to give. I love it!<\/p>\n

Still, that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s completely successful at what it\u2019s trying to do. It’s too bonkers and too “improvisational” for it’s own good, so tonight me and my friends will watch it for Bad Movie Monday. That said, my views about \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cbad\u201d have evolved over the last two and half years and I think I\u2019m past such simple terms. More and more I\u2019m finding myself enjoying the ride along with the filmmakers no matter where the destination. Cheering when they get it right, and gently busting their balls when they get it wrong.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the movie about? Well, let\u2019s look at the synopsis on the back of the DVD!<\/p>\n

Val Kilmer and Elle Fanning star in this terrifying horror film written and directed by Academy Award winner Francis Ford Coppola. Kilmer plays Hall Baltimore, a writer on a book tour who uncovers a disturbing murder that could be source material for his next novel. But as Hall investigates the killing, he finds himself confronted by chilling nightmares, including the ghost of a young girl (Fanning). As he uncovers more horrifying revelations, Hall will discover that the story has more to do with his own life than he could ever have imagined.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now onto my favorite part of the review! Top ten thoughts I had about the movie!<\/p>\n

#1 Val Kilmer is excellent in this, as he is in every movie he\u2019s been in. I\u2019ll even go so far as to say that this is one of my favorite performances of his.<\/p>\n

#2 I love Bruce Dern. Coppola seems to have essentially just told him to do whatever he wants, and Dern does whatever he wants, and it\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n

#3 I don\u2019t think Elle Fanning has ever given a bad performance in her life, which is pretty shocking when you take into consideration that she has 66 credits to her name and is only 24.<\/p>\n

#4 Val Kilmer used to be married to actress Joanne Whalley, but the two divorced in 1996. The fact that Coppola got both of them to act in this movie as a HUSBAND AND WIFE is one of the single greatest achievements of any filmmaker ever. I truly do admire him for this.<\/p>\n

#5 I think Bruce Dern and Val Kilmer probably liked each other, but I also think they were fucking with each other a little bit in a kind of friendly rivalry.<\/p>\n

#6 I could probably watch a whole movie of Val Kilmer doing imitations of Marlon Brando and James Mason. He\u2019s hilarious.<\/p>\n

#7 As a French Speaker, I\u2019m not saying that this movie has the single worst attempt at speaking French that I\u2019ve ever heard in my life. It\u2019s in the top five though.<\/p>\n

#8 I had genuine feelings at the end of this movie. It is truly beautiful in its own way.<\/p>\n

#9 This movie has so many twist and turns that by the end we feel like we\u2019re right back where we began. Although perhaps that was the point.<\/p>\n

#10 The Song \u201cNosferatu\u201d is sung by Val Kilmer and Francis Ford Coppola themselves, so if you always wanted to hear a Goth song by those two, now\u2019s your chance. It\u2019s also insanely catchy and it will not leave my head.<\/p>\n

I feel this movie is ultimately about art and loss and love and longing and regret. It\u2019s about trying to move past tragedy through artistic creation. Trying to find a way to express grief and sadness in a way that is beautiful. For that alone, I think this is an underrated minor masterpiece from Coppola. Will you like it? I don\u2019t know, but you won\u2019t forget it. That I can assure you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think one of the biggest problems with TWIXT is the title. It makes the movie sound like it\u2019s the live action adaptation of a children\u2019s cartoon about plucky ghosts going to school at night and getting taught English by Edgar Alan Poe. A title like TWIXT makes it sound like it should have its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3070,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-badmoviemonday","category-movie-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37944"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37956,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37944\/revisions\/37956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}