11/21/97
MOVIE REVIEW: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
'Midnight' too genteel to get the blood going

By JIM SEAVOR
Journal-Bulletin Arts Writer

***1/2 (out of five)
Starring Kevin Spacey, John Cusack, The Lady Chablis, Irma P. Hall, Alison Eastwood. A Warner Brothers release written by John Lee Hancock, based on the book by John Berendt. Directed by Clint Eastwood. Rated R, strong language, adult themes. Running time: 150 minutes.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has made it to the screen -- or at least a good part of it.

The sprawling book by John Berendt, on the best-seller lists for more than three years, turned Savannah into a kind of Emerald City, drawing thousands to trace the steps taken by the people Berendt captured so well.

Among those taking the journey was Clint Eastwood, who produced and directed the film version. On screen, Midnight turns out to be a carefully crafted, nicely acted piece, but one that lacks the excitement and thrill of discovery found in the book.

The script by John Lee Hancock contains many if not most of the book's characters. The plot follows the book's general outline: A writer goes to Savannah, falls in love with the city and its people and stays to investigate a murder case.

But the film never captures Savannah in a way to match the description it uses, "Gone With The Wind on Mescaline." Even at 21/2 hours, it's a matter of so many characters, so little time.

The film turns Berendt into writer John Kelso (John Cusack). He's sent to Savannah to do a Vanity Fair article on the annual Christmas bash thrown by antiques dealer Jim Williams (Kevin Spacey). Williams kills his hustler-lover Billy Hanson (Jude Law) and Kelso sticks around to discover what really happened.

The search leads him through all levels of Savannah society -- the highest society where appearance is all, a voodoo priestess who conducts rituals in the cemetery at midnight, and The Lady Chablis, a drag queen extraordinaire who stole the book and, playing herself, steals the film.

For those of you who do not know, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is based on real people and actual events. (The Good and Evil part of the title refers to a cemetery. Midnight is when the good and evil come together.)

A Southern tale

The film begins well. The camera sweeps over trees and water, eventually coming to rest at the grave of Johnny Mercer. On the soundtrack is k.d. lang singing Skylark, which Mercer wrote with Hoagy Carmichael. It's gentle, laid back and perfect for a film that takes a Southern tale at a Southern pace.

As we get into the film, Savannah's eccentrics begin to emerge. There's the man who walks an imaginary dog every day. We meet another man who keeps horseflies buzzing around him by tying them to threads. (He also has a bottle he says has enough poison in it to kill everyone in Savannah.)

We're in Oz.

But strangely, Savannah doesn't come alive on film as it does in the book. The film remains unfocused as it wanders from Kelso to Williams to all those people who cross their paths.

Cusack's Kelso is a nice guy. You really like him. But he's bland. And, since he's our guide to this Wonderland, the film lacks a strong center.

Spacey's Williams is smug, bordering on arrogant, but essentially likeable. Going against him is that veneer society feels it must maintain -- at least, apparently, in Savannah.

Eventually, you yearn for someone who is not reining in his or her emotions.

Enter Minerva (Irma P. Hall), that voodoo priestess. She's larger than life with a warmth that can melt any opposition. Whether she's conducting rituals in the cemetery or keeping watch on the world from a park bench, she is a strong presence.

The real Lady Chablis

But it's The Lady Chablis who really holds things together. She reportedly told the filmmakers that, if they wanted to use her as a character in the film, she was going to play the part -- or there would be no Lady Chablis in the film. They wisely agreed.

The Lady Chablis is streetwise, warm and calls things as she sees them. Whether she's crashing a black debutante ball or working the crowd in her bar act, Chablis is real. She captures the spirit of the book.

Watching Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, you get the feeling everyone was being too careful. They didn't want to disappoint anyone.

There are wonderful moments. There's the ladies' bridge club where the members arrive at the same time in a kind of precision drill, then wait on the steps because the hostess will not open the door until precisely 4 p.m. We drop by that black debutante ball, which is as stuffy as any debutante ball -- until The Lady Chablis shows up.

But there isn't a lot of excitement to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It may dip beneath the veneer of Southern charm, but it can't break through its own veneer.

It has that surface down pat, and there is fun to be had. But it doesn't draw blood -- blue or otherwise.