Special Coverage The Photo IssueThe Must List2008 Fall TV2008 Fall Movies2008 Fall Music
Presented by Moviefone

Credits

Release Date: Jan 19, 2001; Rated: R; Length: 124 Minutes; Genres: Drama, Mystery; With: Jack Nicholson and Robin Wright Penn
B
By Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is a film critic for EW

Sean Penn's third film as a director is a psychological murder mystery in which the central character is at once investigator, possible suspect, and angst-ridden carrier of the world's woes, and damned if Penn doesn't draw you inside this labyrinth of existential murk. When the mutilated body of an 8-year-old girl is found in the Nevada snow, Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson), a weary, just-retired homicide detective, stays on the case. Nicholson gives a haunting and ravaged performance, and Penn shows real flair -- for visual suspense, for holding his actors in the throes of slow-motion breakdown. Yet as the film slides from the intriguing to the contrived, the events acquire a metaphysical vagueness.


Posted Feb 09, 2001
 

Add Your Comments

The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail us. You must have javascript enabled to submit a comment.
--
Change/Edit your grade
characters remaining