Twixt

It was fun watching a healthy (if hefty) Val Kilmer. His character displayed an attractive and calm way in most of the film. Fun to see Elle Fanning extravagantly made up and costumed. Bruce Dern was a hoot as the crazed town Sheriff and there were a couple of scenes that had some genuinely artistic cinematography.

However, one of the reviews informs us this story came to Coppola in a dream while he was in Turkey. He has a reputation for being a bit of a doper and this dream must have been enabled by an overdose.

The plot is an absolute mess and makes any sense in only about 3 or 4 scenes. I am not someone who requires all loose ends be neatly tied up, but this story goes nowhere.

I don't see any way to pay much attention and enjoy the film. Perhaps if you get bombed, don't think about the story and just enjoy the view, it could be worth your time.

"Maybe this is what I need, this story." Hall Baltimore (Kilmer) is a writer that has seen his recent sales drop. He begins to travel from town to town promoting his new book with book signings no one cares about. When he comes to a small town he meets the sheriff Bobby LaGrange (Dern) we is interested in writing with him. When he shows Hall the town's most recent murder victim he becomes intrigued. After learning of the town's past Hall becomes obsessed with his new story idea and wants to find the truth. I was torn before I watched this. I am a huge Coppola fan, the Godfather is my favorite movie, but the fact that Val Kilmer was in this made me a little leery. After about 20 minutes I found out that Coppola out-ways Kilmer. The movie is very interesting and sucks you in enough to keep you watching and wondering what is going to happen next. A somewhat original idea but the writing and story make it seem fresh and exciting. This is easily Kilmer's best movie since Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Coppola's best since the Rainmaker. While the movie isn't for everyone I think it is worth seeing and it's nice to see a horror movie that isn't just how many people can we chop up in an hour. Overall, a movie I liked but again isn't for everyone. I give it a B.

Val Kilmer stars as Hall Baltimore, a third string mystery/horror writer on his latest book tour staying in a small town where he gets involved in a murder mystery upon meeting the eccentric sheriff, Bobby LaGrange (Bruce Dern). He meets a quasi-goth girl named V (Elle Fanning) who reminds him of his pubescent daughter. There's also a camp of weirdo goth-kids across the lake and Edgar Allen Poe shows up now and then as a kind of spirit-guide (Ben Chaplin), but what's dream and what's reality? And who murdered the female in the morgue with a stake?

"B'Twixt Now and Sunrise" is Francis Ford Coppola's renamed reedit of his 2011 movie "Twixt," released in 2022. It's a mystery/dramedy with elements of horror, combining the look of Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" with the inscrutableness of his "Youth Without Youth," plus a welcome side of humor. It's a quirky mystery that leaves you scratching your head, but you find yourself enjoying the ride, a Gothic tale with beautifully haunting cinematography & atmosphere, highlighted by Poe, bell towers, ghosts and bats in the belfry. The enhanced moonlighting and otherworldly blueish gray tones are awesome.

It tackles the creative process as we observe the desperation of a writer scraping the bottom of the barrel, often under the influence of sundry intoxicants. Will he come up with a best seller? Will he solve the murder mystery? Will he come to terms with his specters and demons that arise from his guilt over what happened to his daughter? That element, by the way, brings to mind Francis' 23 years-old son, Gian-Carlo Coppola, who was tragically killed in a similar boating accident in May, 1986. The reckless driver was Griffin O'Neal (Ryan's son).

A lot of the movie is an internal dialogue with the author's own ghosts and literary influences. Charles Baudelaire (a notorious substance abuser) is referenced, with the aforementioned Poe intermittently appearing, but only when Baltimore is under the influence, or dreaming. Did the abuse and murder of the children happen as shown? Or did Poe and the vampire incarnation of Hall's own daughter serve as muses as he works his way through creating a story that might turn his career around? Coppola leaves it up to you to decide what is real and what is imagination, but the answers are there if you want 'em.

Francis got the story from a dream he had while staying in Istanbul. This sets-up the criticism that Coppola's dream is the audience's nightmare. While "Twixt" and this reedit are too ambiguous for their own good, it's obviously intentional and he wanted the viewer to leave with questions to ponder. Besides, does everything need to be spelled out?

As for comparing the two versions, this one's 8 minutes shorter and I think I liked it better (it's hard to say because I saw the former version 8 years earlier).

It was shot at Kelseyville and the Clear Lake area of Northern California.

GRADE: B+

Legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola has delivered some iconic films including the Godfather trilogy, The Outsiders, and Apocalypse Now, but when he decided to step back to start doing independent features again everyone wondered would he be able to keep producing these amazing films. His latest Twixt takes him into the world of horror and bring along Val Kilmer to lead the charge. Dose this strange looking film live up the quality we are used to or could this be the downfall of a once great filmmaker?

Twixt follows a struggling writer who arrives in a small town for a book signing but instead gets caught up in the mystery of a young girl's murder. As he gets deeper in the mystery the help of a mysterious ghost takes him on a journey that leads back to his own past and the truth of the story. This is one of those films that are going to be more of an acquired taste, you either like it or you don't not too much in the middle. The story is actually well crafted with the mystery being laced with the supernatural and never quite letting you know where it's headed until the very end. That doesn't mean it offered all that many twists and turns that you probably won't see coming, but everything works well together. Val Kilmer has delivered some real duds over the years and some may not see this as much better, but he does give one of the better performances in quite some time and carries the movie well. His supporting cast includes Bruce Dern and Elle Fanning who do a fine job with their characters, but this is all Kilmer's show. There are some strange choices with the story here, but Coppola clearly had a vision he stuck with and deserves props for that. Some of the effects weren't all that great and some appeared like they were either going for 3D or something off the SyFy channel, but still serves their purpose well enough to still maintain a decent film.

This is a strange film that doesn't deliver any real horror and leaves some of the ending up to interpretation, but has an old school feel to it that makes for an interesting experience. Is this a great film? No, but it is a brilliant filmmaker taking some chances to do what he wants and succeeds. A lot of the film was actually shot on Coppola's property which makes it an even more impressive feat that this film looks as good as it does. Coppola isn't breaking any new ground and most will look at films like these as the end of a much respected career, instead of the passion projects they actually are now.

Francis Ford Coppola (THE GODFATHER, APOCALYPSE NOW, THE CONVERSATION, BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, etc.) is an inarguable master filmmaker. Since 2000 he's only made four films and I haven't seen any of them until now. Originally released as TWIXT, this version, B'TWIXT NOW AND SUNRISE, is a re-edited director's cut of the film that's shorter than the original. I never saw the original cut, so I can't compare, but I can say I enjoyed this oddball low-budget film. Val Kilmer plays a barely famous horror writer stopping by a small town for a book signing and then becomes intrigued by a local murder mystery involving a young girl and possibly vampires. Kilmer is good, as always, and Bruce Dern plays the colorful over-the-top sheriff (and wannabe horror novelist). There's also a great supporting cast that includes Elle Fanning as a ghost/vampire/murder victim, David Paymer as Kilmer's agent, and Joanne Whalley (Kilmer's real-life ex-wife) playing his ex-wife, which is delightfully meta and funny. The entire film feels like Coppola is doing a goof and just having fun. After watching the behind-the-scenes documentary by his granddaughter Gia Coppola, I feel even more convinced of that or maybe it's just that Coppola runs a very casual relaxed set. It doesn't feel as substantial or weighty as his other work, but Coppola is a master filmmaker and you can see it in his frame compositions, the way scenes cut together, and the dreamlike quality he brings to the film, even if the material seems rather light and inconsequential. Overall, I'm not sure I'd recommend this film to anyone outside of Coppola or Kilmer die-hards, but I count myself as one on both parts, so this film worked for me.