El secreto

I think that "Palmetto" is going to be a cult movie some years from now. It has been clearly underrated. It is "noir", although located in sunny places. It has a sort of kinship relation with George Stevens' A Place in the Sun. And it has a quite good Woody Harrelson in the leading role. Sweat plays more than a role in the plot: characters are sweating all the time (mainly Harry Barber), for different reasons. May be that's why some people dislike it.

I think this is one of those modern-day film noirs (neo noir) that went under the radar. It is excellent, and few people know about it. It's a very underrated film.

It had an interesting and unpredictable story with some very neat twists which a good noir might have. I'm not really sure I liked the very ending, but I sure enjoyed the rest of it. That entertainment included ogling a couple of sexy female leads, played by Elisabeth Shue and Chloe Sevigny and I loved the wonderful colors in this movie. Not only was the cinematography great, so was the soundtrack with some solid blues tracks. The guitar playing reminded me of the Ry Cooder's work in "Midnight Run."

The movie was labeled by some national critics as a "poor man's 'Body Heat.'" Well, that's fine with me because I liked "Body Heat" a lot, too. If you liked that, you should like this movie, too.

Yes, there are a few holes in the story but nothing that damaged the storyline to any degree. Woody Harrelson was good in the lead and Gina Gershon and Michael Rapaport provided solid performance in supporting roles.

Released from prison after being cleared of charges, Harry Barber tries to get his life back when he is approached by the beautiful Rhea Malroux with a proposition to make money. It's simple - Rhea's stepdaughter will pretend to be kidnapped, Harry will write the notes and Rhea will get $500,000 ransom money from her rich elderly husband without the police ever getting involved. Needless to say, things don't go totally to plan and, after Harry collects the money, things go badly wrong and he finds himself desperately trying to get out of the web he is caught up in.

An ex-con gets approached by a gorgeous woman and is seduced into committing a simple crime - typical noir territory, cue a twisty thriller where things that are presented as facts turn out to be lies etc. The plot is quite good even if I was waiting for the twists rather than having them come out of leftfield at me. The lack of real surprises was a problem for me as it did turn the story into rather a workmanlike affair at times. The characters aren't great either. Aside from Harry all the others are basic cardboard cut outs of characters rather than being well scripted people.

Harrelson does a good Harry, he has a sort of haggard yet oafish character here who is always one step behind and Woody can do that quite well. Shue is OK as the supposed femme fatale but I couldn't help feel that Gershon would have done a much better job, although at times Shue does look very sexy. Sevigny and Rapaport are both good young actors but neither is really given anything to do here - especially Rapaport who has bad dialogue throughout.

Overall though this is watchable and isn't bad - just routine. It has weaknesses but it does well to ape the atmosphere and prerequisites of the genre well, although it is pretty run of the mill as far as the genre goes. Still worth seeing but if you've seen more than three examples of the genre then you'll know pretty much what to expect.

This brilliantly-written film has everything a great film noir movie needs. First and foremost, the femme fatale Rhea Malroux, played with cunning accuracy by Elisabeth Shue, and the sucker who gets screwed over, Harry Barber, played by Woody Harrelson. Another important and necessary element is the sticky, hot Florida climate, that adds to the erotic atmosphere. The money is the object of everyone's desire as well. Because of all this and much more, "Palmetto" achieves what every film noir film shoots for. Thrills, surprises, murder and steam. Trailers and reviews made the film sound like a sex romp, when in reality there isn't one nudity shot in the whole thing. Because "Palmetto" is not about nudity. It's more than that, like any good film noir is. It's about TEASING. About strutting and never showing all the goods. Rhea Malroux struts her stuff alright, but never strips. And that's much better than gratuitous sex and nudity. Much better. The film focuses more on the plot, about a fake kidnapping scheme that is sure to please everyone...if it goes smoothly. And of course, it doesn't. Bodies turn up, and people are not who they seem. Harry Barber quickly realizes he's gotten too deep in something he never should have gotten involved in. But after serving two years of a four-year sentence in an 8X10 jail cell for a crime he didn't commit, he feels someone owes him. So he agrees to participate in a fake kidnapping that will get the wife of rich Felix Malroux 500,000 dollars and Harry a nice whopping 50,000. But because Harry is not naughty by nature, he doesn't do well disguising his innocence and his guilt comes through, sweating profusely when the DA Renick calls him in to act as reporter, Harry can't take the "heat". He attempts to call the whole thing off, but once told the money's already been delivered, he can't help it. He wants back in. E. Max Frye is the brilliance here, for his script says it all. Based on an old pulp novel "Just Another Sucker" by European author James Hadley Chase, the film is directed by Volker Schlondorff, who should also be commended. The acting is first rate, and purposefully over-the-top by brilliant Elisabeth Shue as the best femme fatale I personally have ever seen grace the silver screen. This is not a must rent, it's a must BUY!

Apart from one central problem (Elisabeth Shue certainly has the body, but not the inherent tough-girl attitude her role requires; in other words, she's miscast), I personally cannot understand how anyone can claim to be a mystery fan and not like this movie. Absorbing storytelling (which takes its time), some tense moments (the body in the car trunk) and many great, totally unpredictable surprises that even the most hardened genre buffs will not guess. Riveting and interesting from beginning to end. (***)