Kalifornia (1993)

Directed by Dominic Sena. Starring Brad Pitt, David Duchovny, Juliette Lewis, Michelle Forbes, Judson Vaughn, Sierra Pecheur. [R]

A grad student writer (Duchovny) and his photographer girlfriend (Forbes) hit the road to visit murder sites as research for a book about serial killers, oblivious to the fact that they’re traveling with one such psychopath: greasy parolee (Pitt), traveling with his developmentally-impaired girlfriend (Lewis) as a trailer trash couple that answered Duchovny’s rideshare ad. Descent into depravity and nihilism will ostracize some viewers, but the storytelling defects are steamrolled by the potent performances from Pitt and Lewis, distressing but almost frighteningly credible. Its refreshing demystification of mass murderer tropes can’t sustain itself all the way, settling in the final act for a symbol-heavy variation on the standard hero/damsel/killer confrontation and violent fight to the finish. Duchovny’s narration throughout strikes notes that are equally monotone and pretentious, but many of the scenes they bracket remain compelling. Striking photography by Bojan Bazelli. Promising feature debut for music video director Sena (promise that, sadly, never paid off in his Hollywood career).

72/100