Palmetto

Summary

“I’ve got to take a shower. I smell like a fish.”

Film noir saw a pretty solid resurgence in the Nineties. Noir never fully went away at any point in history, but the Nineties saw numerous forays into the genre: One False Move, After Dark, My Sweet, Deep Cover, Devil in a Blue Dress, Miami Blues, and more. In book form and movie form, noir is easily one of my favorite genres. The Nineties also saw an explosion of steamy thrillers with films such as Basic Instinct and sun drenched noirs such as Wild Things and The Hot Spot. Palmetto aims to satisfy fans of Double Indemnity and steamier sundrenched noirs by adapting British novelist James Hadley Chase’s novel Just Another Sucker for a Floridian setting. Directed by acclaimed German filmmaker Volker Schlondorff, Palmetto stars Woody Harrelson, Elisabeth Shue, Gina Gershon, and Michael Rappaport. I had not seen the film on its theatrical run, so I was excited to watch it the other night.

After two years in the penitentiary, writer Harry Barber (Woody Harrelson) is let loose from prison. He is informed by the judge, via television conference, that his conviction was overturned due to a state witness giving differing evidence in another case. Harry angrily asks the Judge how he can gain back his two years. Harry is determined to go to Miami, and just as determined to stay away from Palmetto. Walking away from the prison, he is talked to by his friend District Attorney John Renick (Tom Wright) about returning to Palmetto. Harry demurs, but then his ex-girlfriend Nina pulls up alongside him. Her kisses and offer of a place to stay stops Harry from going on to Miami. Nina is an artist who works in metal sculptures, and has made a successful career of it. Each day, Harry leaves her house and fails to land any jobs. At a bar, Harry sits drinking water. He orders a shot, but simply to smell it. While sitting there, a pretty blonde (Elisabeth Shue) walks into the bar. She steps into a phone booth and leaves her handbag behind after completing her call. Harry examines the purse’s contents which includes a billfold full of $100 bills. He is tempted to take the cash. The blonde comes back for the handbag. Harry explains he was about to turn the bag in to the bartender. She offers to buy him a round, but she also offers him a job. She says, “The money’s good….it’s very good, but in exchange there’s an element of risk.” Harry asks what the job is exactly and she writes a phone number in the palm of his hand. He hands back her cash so she can pay the bill at the bar. Harry follows her to a marina where she hops on a boat called the Rhea M. A dockworker tells him about the rich family in which Rhea has married. The patriarch of the family is dying of lung cancer. Harry does some research into the Melreaux family before tracking down their house. He swings by and is met at the door by a security man of sorts named Donnelly (Michael Rappaport.) While Donnelly is busy, Harry sneaks around back to talk to Rhea in the garden. They set a meeting and then meet up at the bungalows on the edge of town. Harry secretly records their conversation. She offers him the job. Her stepdaughter Odette is going to be kidnapped. The ransom is $500k. She will pay a 10% fee for Harry to be the voice on the phone. She then explains that the ransom is Odette’s idea. Harry and Rhea hook up and he goes along with the plan to fake the kidnapping after meeting with Odette (Chloe Sevigny.)

Palmetto is almost a great movie. There are numerous aspects of the film that I really enjoyed including the sumptuous cinematography by Thomas Kloss and a fun performance by Woody Harrelson. Harrelson is very well cast in the role, and any time he overplays the part it is more of a reflection of being instructed to do so than a reflection on his acting skills. Chloe Sevigny also turns in a pitch perfect performance in her role. The setting of the film is excellent and stirs the imagination. The script itself has plenty to enjoy, even if some of the twists are telegraphed from the beginning. The film still has at least one twist that I didn’t completely expect, and (while it isn’t perfect) the script is certainly playful and fun in an entertaining way. Sadly, the film never fully rises to the occasion because of two issues. The first issue is the actual direction of the actors by Volker Schlondorff. Volker has the actors consistently pose in the frame in ways that seem totally unnatural to the camera. The worst offender in the film is Elisabeth Shue in terms of being directed into unnatural poses. I really like Elisabeth Shue in a number of films, and I was excited to see her act in a noir. Sadly, this is a case of failed casting. Shue can not shrug off her inherent goodness to play the femme fatale in the film. While I found her convincing as a call girl in Leaving Las Vegas, she completely fails to convince in this role. This is too bad because I can’t help but think that if Gina Gershon had switched roles with her, this film would have worked so much better. Gershon can play tough and alluring women and can project a bad girl image. Instead, Gershon is sadly wasted as the loving and unsuspecting girlfriend of Harry. In some alternate universe that film exists and works better. Palmetto has some sequences that are somewhat steamy, aiming to match sequences of other sensual thrillers, but the scenes are really nothing too explicit. The steamy sequences feature some heavy panting but nothing too over the top. Once again, these sequences fail to register because Elisabeth Shue seems to be given completely abstract direction by Volker that throws the sequences off. 

I am hoping that I did not come off as overly negative, because I still found the film entertaining and wanted to see it through to the end. I really do like Elisabeth Shue in other roles and don’t blame her for how this performance came off. The film is certainly entertaining and for myself it scratched the itch I had for a Floridian noir. Given its strengths and weaknesses, I still was happy to add it to my collection. It is a strange little picture that doesn’t quite work, but it is still something that I would happily rewatch again warts and all. I know from the boards that Palmetto (while divisive critically) has gained esteem over the years as a forgotten noir that deserves rediscovery. While the film doesn’t totally work, I still had fun with it. 

Video

Warner Archive once again shows off their skill at preserving catalog titles. Palmetto has been restored very capably. The DVD for this film came out ages ago and never looked very good. I viewed the film in Standard Definition to do a comparison, and this is a true night and day difference. Warner has done a tremendous job on the transfer of the film using an MPEG-4 AVC codec in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The cinematography by Thomas Kloss looks really nice on the Blu-ray format. The film has that Nineties look with some inherent softness, but the Blu-ray is essentially reference quality with the film grain well preserved. I can’t imagine fans of the film will be anything but elated by this upgrade.

Audio

Similar to the video transfer, Warner has provided a great sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that capably replicates the original sound design of the film. This is largely a dialogue driven film, so atmospherics in the back channel are not extremely present, but the track replicates the theatrical sound design well. The score by Klaus Doldinger was somewhat hit or miss for me, but it is well preserved. Clarity is excellent and I did not detect any glaring issues.

Supplements:

Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – .5/5

Overall – 3.5/5

Palmetto is almost a great movie. There are a lot of things to enjoy about the picture including a solid setting, excellent cinematography, and enjoyable performances by Woody Harrelson and Chloe Sevigny. Sadly, Volker Schlondorff’s direction of his actors fails to convince at numerous points and Elisabeth Shue is miscast as a femme fatale. Gina Gershon is wasted as an unsuspecting and supportive girlfriend. The script itself has numerous aspects that are somewhat predictable noir tropes, but I still enjoyed the film’s writing as a whole. Despite the film’s somewhat hit-or-miss quality, I found myself enjoying it overall. It did not receive many good reviews when it was released and likely for good reason, but I still found it scratched an itch I have for noir films – specifically ones produced in the Nineties. I don’t know that every viewer will find the film as enjoyable as I did, so I am not sure that a blind buy would be recommended. That said, the film has enjoyed a resurgence of a cult reputation as almost a lost noir from the Nineties. Fans of the film will be pleased to know that Warner Archive’s new Blu-ray features a great looking video transfer and solid audio. A trailer is its sole on-disc supplement. Fans of the film will definitely want to retire their extremely worn DVD copies.

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.