The Locusts

I found "The Locusts" an excellently written emotional story about hardship, manipulation, abuse, suicide, sex, blackmail, and dealing with mistakes. This is a film which requires attention to fully experience it, so it's not a drinking buddies movie. You can do that, but the film will appear shallow in that context.

The acting is wonderful and subtle. So much is said not through the words but by the actors' presentations of emotion and the scene staging. The plot appears simple on the surface. The plot on the surface is like a film noir; wealthy widow who preys on attractive male employees, her troubled adolescent son grieving his father's death, drifter with a mysterious past, and all. Seemingly black and white characters. Sex-starved widow hires drifter to work on her cattle farm. She sets her eyes on him. The drifter resists and simultaneously tries to befriend the son. This is established early. Later, past occurrences are revealed. Tragedy happens.

However. There is so much emotional subtext in the scenes. So much of the plot is implied by behaviors and not spoken. The character development through the scenes is complex and emotionally powerful. The actors handle it wonderfully. I like it better on rewatching because I can see the things I missed before. I cannot with say more without giving away plot points.

Back to my comment above, it works better if you are going to pay attention, are in the mood to try to figure out what about the characters is not being said. This film may trigger trauma memories in some people. I think the subject matter when released was disturbing to audiences. The subject matter is still disturbing, but some portrayed subjects are better understood today than in 1997.

I got lung cancer from all the second-hand smoke. In nearly every scene, cigarettes play a prominent role. Either the director was a cigarette junkie, the cast were nicotine addicts, or tobacco companies funded the entire production.

The plot was predictably hokey, the acting mediocre (with the exception of Flyman), and the directing lazy. It seemed to pause often to make some point but never delivered the point. Capshaw was especially disappointing. I managed to struggle through all 2+ hours waiting for something to reach out of this film. It never did.

The high point was seeing Vince Vaughn take off his shirt - and I'm straight.

Don't waste the time and money. It could drive you to lighting up.

Normally when I hear or read the title of a movie, I have some idea of what it could be like. That's not always correct, but most of the time it works - especially with famous movies of course. But when I read the title of this movie, I really didn't know what it would be about. Of course I didn't think that it would be a movie about the insect, but I just couldn't form a good idea about it. That's why I just gave it a try, not knowing what to expect, but hoping for the best. And I'm glad that I did, because this certainly was a nice movie.

"The Locusts" is situated in the 1950's and shows how the arrival of Clay Hewitt changes life drastically in a small town. He's looking for a job and is hired by the local feed ranch's owner, an aging widow who likes to drink and seduce younger men. He quickly becomes her new lover, but also has an eye for her quiet son Flyboy. The boy hasn't spoken a word in years and is completely withdrawn since the death of his father. The only one who he talks to since his recent return from a mental hospital is his pet bull. But Clay wants to give it a try and gradually he manages to get the boy out of his isolation, much against the will of the boy's mother...

Even though this is perhaps not the most original story ever, I must say that I had a good time watching this movie. The acting has a lot to do with that of course. Vince Vaughn is very enjoyable as Clay Hewitt and Kate Capshaw did a very fine job portraying Delilah, but in my opinion it is Jeremy Davies as Flyboy, who was the best this time. But overall this is a movie that portrayed its characters well and didn't drown in an overdose of plot twists. This is John Patrick Kelley's first and so far only film, but it certainly makes me look forward to new projects from this man. I give this movie a rating between 7/10 and 7.5/10.

In the 50's, the drifter Clay Hewitt (Vince Vaughn) arrives in a small town in the countryside of Kansas and befriends the locals Kitty (Ashley Judd), Earl (Paul Rudd) and his girlfriend Patsy (Jessica Capshaw) after punching their friend Joel Carter (Daniel Meyer) in a bar. Clay asks for a job to raise money to go to California, and Earl drives him to the ranch of the widow Delilah Ashford Potts (Kate Capshaw) to work with him in the slaughterhouse. Mrs. Potts is an alcoholic and promiscuous woman and hires Clay and let him stay in the barn. When Clay meets her son Joseph "Flyboy" Potts (Jeremy Davies), he learns that he has just returned from a mental institution after eight years and he does not speak a word to anybody. Further, his only friend is a bull called Jim that belonged to his father. Clay falls in love with Kitty and gets close to Flyboy that becomes his friend and slowly changes his behavior. When Clays decides to leave the town, he discloses a dark secret to Kitty. Meanwhile Flyboy's change of attitude unleashes a series of evil events and revelations from Mrs. Potts.

"The Locust" is one of the most powerful dramas shown in the American cinema industry, with a depressive and heartbreaking story of family revelations. This film is almost perfect, with wonderful direction, performances, cinematography, art direction and music score. Further, it is dramatic but never corny. It is also impressive how the distributors have neglected this film that was only released on VHS in Brazil. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Segredos Imperdoáveis" ("Unforgivable Secrets")

That this film has a running time OVER 2 hours, and has had little or no theatrical recognition, immediately activates my senses. This length will complicate scheduling on pay-cable, and meant pressing an additional disk for the laser package. Why?. One possibility (rare) is that it is truly an auteur's masterpiece, not for the masses, maybe, but important enough, as is, to be kept intact. The more likely scenario is that this movie is such a waste of time that everyone involved could really care less what gets released. By now they've all changed their names, left town, and moved onto the next..

Predictably, The Locusts falls into category 2. Vince Vaughan in a muscle shirt and Ashley Judd with her cotton dress flying in the wind are about all this film has on the plus side. Dragging and nagging situations, disconnected dialogue, and uncertain motivation tend to make most every frame tortuous to endure.

First time-writer-directors (John Patrick Kelley here) tend to script a very personal project, one based on material with which they are intimately familiar-they draw on their strength. Subsequent efforts can wane, as the writer ventures into more unfamiliar territory. With this in mind, I leave you with 2 questions: (1) Where in the world did this story come from? And (2) What can we expect from John Patrick Kelly when he starts writing from an unfamiliar point of view ?

The answers may scare you.