Film review: The Life of David Gale (2003) « The sound of my own voice

Film review: The Life of David Gale (2003)

27Apr08

A hot shot university professor and anti capital punishment activist, David Gale (Kevin Spacey), is arrested for a murder and ironically ends up on death row himself. Yes, it does sound like a silly premise, and I had my doubts, but The life of David Gale turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

The protagonist Bitsey Bloom (Cate Winslet) is a reporter who interviews Gale just days before his execution. As she hears his story she begins to doubt that he is the man responsible for murdering his fellow activist and longtime friend Constance Harrraway (Laura Linney). And so the quest for the truth commences.

The actors all do a good job, especially Laura Linney, who seems to succeed in every movie she is in. Sometimes I wonder if she is too good for the egos of some directors. Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Ang Lee, Martin Scorsese and so on, none of the really prestigious directors have done a single movie with her. Given her exceptional talent that is a bit odd. I guess they don’t want people to say: “Wow, another great Laura Linney movie.”

Anyhoo, the genre of the film is drama-thriller, a mix that often fails in that either the drama or the suspense takes overhand. This one keeps a nice balance right till the end. And that usually makes for a good movie. Just think of films like The Silence of the Lambs, Mildred Pierce or The Night of the Hunter. This one isn’t quite in that league but it isn’t that far off.

Despite the theme it’s not a political film; it just uses the death penalty as a vehicle to tell an interesting story. The plot has several interesting twist and turns and there isn’t a dull moment, its the sort of craftmanship that reminds me of some of Hitchcock’s movies. And like any really good movie it has very little of loud music, special effects or fancy camera work – just old fashion storytelling.

The only thing that annoyed me a bit was the recurring music from Puccini’s opera Turandot, presumably because of its preoccupation with executions. Although it is Puccini’s best opera, this high culture reference is only pretentious and does nothing for the movie. But now I’m being picky.