Down in the Valley

REVIEW
Norton gives one of his finest performances as a delusional gas station worker who adheres the tenets of the Old West. He fashions himself a modern-day cowboy, which instantly marks him as an outsider. This appeals to troubled teenager Wood, who impulsively asks him to join her and her friends for a day at the beach. He promptly walks out of the gas station, and they begin a relationship, much to the chagrin of her sheriff father, superbly played by Morse. Norton also ingratiates himself with Wood's younger brother — even teaching him to shoot a firearm. Sympathy lies with Norton, especially when Morse comes across as a hyperprotective, short-tempered jerk; but things shift once Norton seems to lose touch with reality more and more. Valley has been criticized for its similarities with films such as Midnight Cowboy, Taxi Driver and Night of the Hunter, but writer-director Jacobson, while certainly influenced by these films (and classic Westerns), has crafted a unique, largely unpredictable, and very affecting tale. The use of iconic Western imagery is inspired: shot in anamorphic widescreen, Valley has the look of an expansive Western, while still capturing the blandness of suburban California. There's a wonderfully disconcerting moment when Norton awakens in an empty building to find a turn of the century hoe-down occurring right outside his window, and the final showdown takes place in the modern-day equivalent of a ghost town — an unfinished, unoccupied suburban complex. This is a smart, evocative film, with terrific performances (Culkin as the younger brother is just great), with a supporting cast peppered with Western veterans (Bruce Dern, Geoffrey Lewis). Fans of Westerns, Norton, idiosyncratic '70s films or just plain great movies should thoroughly enjoy this film. A real sleeper.