Mjeteconer
Just perfect...
Ariella Broughton
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Zlatica
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
Darin
One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
Wuchak
Released in 2011 and Written & directed by Francis Ford Coppola, "Twixt" is a mystery dramedy with elements of horror starring Val Kilmer as Hall Baltimore, a mystery/horror writer with a declining career. On his latest book tour he arrives in a small town and gets caught up in a murder mystery upon meeting the eccentric sheriff, Bobby LaGrange (Bruce Dern). He meets a quasi-goth girl named V (Elle Fanning) who reminds him of his pubescent daughter. There's also a camp of weirdo goth-kids across the lake and Edgar Allen Poe shows up now and then as a kind of spirit-guide (Ben Chaplin), but what's dream and what's reality? And who murdered the female in the morgue? Alden Ehrenreich is on hand as the leader of the wannabe vampire youths, Flamingo, while Anthony Fusco plays the dubious pastor. Joanne Whalley appears as Baltimore's wife while Bruce A. Miroglio plays the fat bastage deputy. "Twixt" (as in 'betwixt,' between) combines the look of Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992) with the inscrutableness of 2007's "Youth Without Youth" plus a sense of humor. It's a quirky, hermetic mystery flick that leaves you scratching your head, but you strangely find yourself enjoying the ride, for the most part. It's a fun Gothic tale with beautifully haunting cinematography & atmosphere, highlighted by Poe, bell towers, ghosts and bats in the belfry, which bring to mind the horror tales of KD/MF, like 1987's ABIGAIL and 1993's IN THE SHADOWS. The enhanced moonlighting and otherworldly blueish gray tones are awesome. At the same time, "Twixt" is about the creative process as we observe the desperation of a writer with a splash of actual talent scraping the bottom of the barrel, often under the influence of sundry intoxicants. Will he come up with a best seller? Will he solve the murder mystery? Will he come to terms with his ghosts of the past and his inner demons, so to speak, specters and demons that arise from his guilt over what happened to his daughter? A lot of the movie is an internal dialogue with the writer's own ghosts and literary influences. Poe and Charles Baudelaire (a notorious substance abuser) are referenced, with the former intermittently appearing, but only when Baltimore is under the influence, or dreaming. Did the abuse and murder of the children happen as shown? Or did Poe and the vampire incarnation of his own daughter serve as muses to the writer as he works his way through creating a story that turns his career around? Coppola leaves it up to you to decide what is real and what is imagination, but the answers are there if you want to mine 'em. Francis got the story from a dream he had while staying in Istanbul. This sets-up the criticism that Coppola's dream is the audience's nightmare. While "Twixt" leaves too many threads dangling, the parts are all there; they just needed sewn together more effectively. Then again, Francis likely wanted the viewer to leave with questions to ponder. See below for insights. The film runs 88 minutes and was shot at Kelseyville and the Clear Lake area of Northern California. GRADE: B- (6.5/10)MISC. INSIGHTS ***SPOILER ALERT*** (Don't read further unless you've watched the movie)A lot of what happens in the town was the author working out his story. Most of it isn't real. The sheriff and deputy are real, as are their deaths at the end, not to mention Baltimore's wife. The sheriff really wanted to write with him. The movie shows what Baltimore experienced as he journeys through his creative process. His book is completed by the end, selling 30,000 copies.The bell tower keeps 7 different times, a representation of when Baltimore wasn't able to go on a trip with his daughter, as he set the clock with the wrong time, so the alarm didn't go off. And his daughter died on the trip. So "time" in the novel for him is useless and naturally the antagonist. Even V says keeping track of time "here" is pointless, which is why she missed his book signing. A big part of the movie is Hall's loss of his daughter. Time is the 'villain.' By not dealing with the tragic accident Baltimore is figuratively keeping his daughter undead. He's fighting time somehow. The age of his daughter when she died is also pertinent. She was betwixt a child and a teenager. And Hall was perhaps between deadlines and going on tours, thus missing out on some of her late childhood/early adolescence ("I thought they would be small boats... children's boats...") The vampire kids represent the strange changes children go through as they enter their teens – the music they like, how they dress, etc. – as they start developing a disposition of their own. It seems so weird to their parents who suddenly find themselves "on the outside looking in." Sheriff LaGrange represents the older generation thinking "Bah, these kids today!" The psycho pastor slays the kids to keep them from "becoming vampires," that is, becoming teenagers who will lose their innocence as they make many mistakes learning to decide for themselves. Flamingo is akin to the Pied Piper; he "gets away" at the end because he'll always be around: There will always be a teenage sense of rebellion, regardless of the clothes it wears.If my comments sound like several dubiously-linking threads its because the movie leaves you with this impression.
Michael O'Keefe
Francis Ford Copppla writes and directs sometimes without thinking about his audience or following. Some projects seeming more than likely for his own admiration. TWIXT is more than just weird and hard to grasp. A bit boring and no doubt about it...a mess. Val Kilmer plays Hall Baltimore a has-been writer that stops in a small town, where strange visions and nightmares change the direction of the murder mystery he is writing. In his nightmares he frequently encounters a young girl...a dead girl...named V(Elle Fanning). The girl reveals some disturbing and dark secrets about a mysterious murder the town is trying to cover up. What connection does V have with this misdeed? And why does Baltimore want to place vampires in the mystery he is writing? Will this be his comeback novel or just another bargain basement book? Kilmer does nothing redeeming. Fanning may as well be the star. Others in the cast: Joanne Whalley, David Paymer, Don Novello, Ryan Simpkins, Anthony Fusco and Ben Chaplin plays Poe.
Wizard-8
I first learned of this movie when digging through my local Wal- Mart's $5 DVD bin. When I came across a copy, I thought to myself, "A new Francis Ford Coppola movie? Why haven't I heard of this movie before?" There were some obvious clues I subsequently saw - not only was the movie a direct to DVD release, it starred the washed up Val Kilmer, who isn't exactly associated with quality productions nowadays. So there was no way I was going to pay $5 to see this movie. But I subsequently found it in my neighborhood video store available for less than $2, so I decided to rent it.I will say this about the movie: If Coppola was trying to capture what a dream or nightmare can be like, there are times when he does manage to recreate the feeling. And the movie is so strange, throwing in everything from vampires to Edgar Allan Poe, that you can't help but keep watching in order to see how things will be wrapped up. However, the wrap up is kind of a cheat, if you ask me, and it wasn't worth the wait. It doesn't help that Kilmer's character is kind of unsympathetic, which may explain why Kiler's performance as this lead character is unenthusiastic, to put it kindly. To sum up, I don't think the movie is worth anyone's time, whether they are a fan of Coppola or not.(P.S. - The "R" rating slapped on this movie by the MPAA seems a bit harsh. There is some bloody violence, but I think the movie deserves more of a PG-13 rating.)
Claudio Carvalho
The decadent writer of witch tales Hall Baltimore (Val Kilmer) travels to Swann Valley, a small town where people go to be forgotten, as part of his tour to promote his recent novel. The town does not have a book store, and Hall stays in a hardware store waiting for his nonexistent fans. Later Sheriff Bobby LaGrange (Bruce Dern), who is an aspirant writer, arrives and tells that he is his fan and asks for an autograph in his book. Then he asks if Hall could read his recent work and invites him to go to the morgue to see the body of a victim of a serial-killer that was murdered with a stake through her heart. Then Hall goes to a coffee shop and discovers that Edgar Allan Poe has once come to a hotel in the town where twelve children have been murdered. He goes to his room and tells his wife through Skype that he is going to write a novel based on the weird events at Swann Valley. Hall falls sleep and in his dream, he walks along a park where he meets the twelve year-old Virginia "V" (Elle Fanning) that tells that is her fan, and then with Edgar Allan Poe (Ben Chaplin). On the next morning, Hall decides to team-up with Bobby to write a story based on his idea, but he is blocked and uses pills to sleep and dream. Along the creation process, Hall entwines reality with his dreams."Twixt" is a stylish and Gothic movie by Francis Ford Coppola, with a ghost story about the writing process, magnificent cinematography and atmosphere and great performance of Val Kilmer. Unfortunately, the screenplay is messy and disappoints most of the viewers including me. The potential of the storyline is lost with the poor script. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Virginia"Note: On 20 Juky 2016 I saw this film again.