Thursday, December 30, 2010

All Good Things


Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst star in this "truth is stranger than fiction" crime drama. This is the fictionalized account of the Robert Durst scandal in New York during the '80's. Mr. Durst was the wealthy son of a New York real estate magnate who was suspected of killing his wife but never charged as her body was never found. The story got stranger as time went on and the film captures all of it with a knockout performance from Mr. Gosling as David Marks (aka Robert Durst).

The film also stars Frank Langella as Sandford Marks, David's father and the wonderful Philip Baker Hall as Malvern Bump, a man David befriends later in life only to get him caught up in his nefarious actions. Lily Rabe also co-stars as another important woman in David's life. Mr. Langella is so good at playing the strong-willed, overbearing patriarch and Mr. Baker Hall is woefully sympathetic as a man driven to circumstances beyond his control.

The story starts out simply enough as David and Katie (Ms. Dunst) meet, fall in love and marry but as the years progress, David's mental instability begins to come to the surface and and the "good things" take a turn for the worse. The film is directed by Andrew Jarecki, who's last film was the documentary "Capturing The Friedmans". It's a fascinating story and will definitely make you curious about the actual events. Thank goodness for Wikpedia.

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