Savannah is an interesting city. I lived in Georgia for four years, and visited the city several times, usually during the week-long St. Patrick's Day celebration in which the residents of Savannah dye the river that flows past their homes a verdant green. The first time, I took a quick day trip for work, and I made time to eat at Paula Deen's The Lady & Sons. The food was good, and I very briefly got to meet the lady herself, but it was weeks before my arteries softened up again. The second time, I heard of this little restaurant made famous by Midnight, and so I stopped in at Clary's Cafe with a group of (very) hungover friends. I braved the shrimp caesar salad and wasn't sorry. After lunch, I felt SO much better, which isn't usually the opposite of when I eat before dinner time and I've had a bit too much to drink.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is based on a nonfictional work, so it brings a certain sense of realness to what I think of as Savannah: a mix of the New World and Old World, a metropolitan city that still has deep antebellum roots and an indefinable quality that I think singles out this beautiful city from any other city I've ever visited. The characters in the film are the same collection of kooks and fascinating character traits that I associate with people from that part of Georgia, but especially from those folks from the city. If you've seen Paula Deen, you have an idea. There is a refined upper class, a semi-landed gentry that dates back a few centuries, but even they are markedly more colorful than their counterparts in say, New York City. There are also more than a few down-to-earth and pleasantly tacky folks who revel in their inability to fit in with the more refined elements of Savannah society.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is based on a nonfictional work, so it brings a certain sense of realness to what I think of as Savannah: a mix of the New World and Old World, a metropolitan city that still has deep antebellum roots and an indefinable quality that I think singles out this beautiful city from any other city I've ever visited. The characters in the film are the same collection of kooks and fascinating character traits that I associate with people from that part of Georgia, but especially from those folks from the city. If you've seen Paula Deen, you have an idea. There is a refined upper class, a semi-landed gentry that dates back a few centuries, but even they are markedly more colorful than their counterparts in say, New York City. There are also more than a few down-to-earth and pleasantly tacky folks who revel in their inability to fit in with the more refined elements of Savannah society.
The one exception to this rule is Kelso, the lead, played by John Cusack. In a sea of interesting people, Cusack's character is an island fortress of tedium. I didn't dislike Kelso, but I didn't like him either. In life, I might have overlooked him, a person whose total lack of interesting qualities make them good only for wall decorations in a crowd. The kind of person in the office that tends to get made fun of behind his or her back, regardless of their performance. How we're expected to mix Kelso into a story with a drag queen, a bisexual drug addict, and a rich gay man accused of murder who likes to scandalize Savannah's polite society is beyond me. I believe the old robot saying of "does not compute" should apply.
I wish there were more scenes of Savannah itself, which is really the only place in Georgia I miss... well, maybe I miss Athens, but Savannah is a place I always have warm thoughts about when it enters my head. I miss the old streets that suddenly open in to 300 year old graveyards. I miss the gnarled oaks. I miss the Spanish moss. I miss the fried chicken at The Lady & Sons. Okay, not so much that last one, but it was good. But it really is the only thing I find lacking in the film.
