Mojave: Sob o Luar do Deserto

This is a very dry comedy that has a few good spots, few and far between.

It's a mild adventure, in the mode of old Hitchcock with a Monty Python twist. Unfortunately, forty minutes go by before anything more than a pleasant smile is evoked from the viewer.

A lot of this takes place in the Mojave, which is good, and at night, which gives us a "cool warm" feel.

The "everyman" character is very human, and most of the characters are very believable, believe it or not, which is surprising, considering their extreme behavior. Much of what happens has the feel of things that the people involved actually experienced. There is an element of realism in the fantasy.

The pace is "mojave moon", and maybe that explains the title. For the first 40 minutes, you will look at the clock, then the story unfolds. It perks up most with a very funny shootout at close range where no one can hit anything.

This "cool warm Mojave moon" feel is probably the heart of the movie, and probably what was really intended. If so, it works well. I've taken vacations to LA, Vegas, and Laughlin, and rented a car simply to drive through the desert, usually starting in LA, and the "cool Mojave" feel begins, at least for me, after the stop at the atmospheric ostrich farm cafe. From there on, it's the tranquility that this film seems to aim for.

This isn't a laugh riot. It isn't something you'll watch a lot, but it does have "atmosphere". I won't say I'm a fan of the film, but it has a good look, and is perfectly titled.

I caught "Mojave Moon" several times on cable but I didn't care about it. I even came to IMDb back in the late 90's and nobody commented about it. It was somehow a rare, obscure independent movie that gained notoriety when Jolie received her first (and only) Oscar. I caught it on a so called art channel.

To be honest, it wasn't until Angelina Jolie made her on-screen appearance with the shortest mini skirt I've ever seen on movies! That girl was stunning.

Then I got hooked in by the plot although it is very strange.

The movie has the typical situations involving a trouble girl that gets everyone in problems and ends up making everybody fool.

To be honest, if it wasn't for Jolie's sexyiness this movie would be still hidden.

It would be easy to dismiss this as just another bad film. Actually, it is a bad film but it's redeemed by a couple of strong elements, most notably the appearance of Angelina Jolie and Danny Aiello. This is one of Jolie's earlier films, coming after Hackers but before her breakout performance in Gia, and you can really see her coming into her own as a star. A star is someone you can't take your eyes off of when they're on screen - Jolie is beautiful and sexy as hell but beyond that, even at this early stage, she's got a certain indescribable something that makes it hard to take your eyes off of her.

Aiello, of course, is great at playing the kind of lovable schmuck he plays in this film. The loser with a heart of gold. In this film he's 50, just gone through a nasty divorce and trying to figure out life in LA. Unlike some of the other posts up here I could totally see him going out to the desert and getting mixed up with some of the crazy characters there. He's got an empty life and he's looking for something - anything - to give him a reason to keep going.

Ann Archer has been better in other things, but she's rarely been made to look more beautiful than this.

On top of all that, it's a great looking film that uses some really cool LA locations. Much of it was shot in Johnnies, a googie style diner on Wilshire Boulevard that Tarantino has used. Other locations include a cool 50's era motel (anyone know where this was?) and of course, the great California desert.

So overall I wouldn't say this is a great film, but it's worth watching.

Al is divorced and he has moved from New York to Seattle to Los Angeles (I don't even know why Seattle was mentioned). He makes his living selling cars, though he seems to know some people who are ... less than honest.

While Al is eating at Johnie's restaurant with friends Sal and Terry, Elie walks in wearing a skirt so short it should be illegal. Al decides to talk to her and finds out she needs a ride to her mom Julie's place in the Mojave Desert. Al agrees to take her.

When they arrive at Julie's trailer (excuse me, 'movable house'), Julie's boyfriend Boyd is there watching TV. Boyd lights his cigarettes with a blowtorch and treats the gentle and sweet Julie like dirt. Elie goes to the Buffalo Chip Saloon to meet boyfriend Kaiser.

From there, things get weird. I mean REALLY weird.

This is a pretty good movie, with good performances by the leading actors. And plenty of plot twists. But what really makes the movie work is the crazy characters. Such as the tire repairman with the big guns. And then there is the time a man needs a cadaver and two guys hear this and are all too willing to help. One even pulls a gun on someone so the man can have his cadaver right away!

Boyd reminded me of Billy Bob Thornton, though maybe that's because I read about him in Life magazine the day I saw the movie. It would be interesting to see what he would have done with the role. Michael Biehn just made him a demented clown, but an entertaining one.

I have to mention the camera work with the introduction of Elie. They wanted to make sure we noticed her legs!

I wasn't sure whether this was a comedy at first, but by the second half I had to laugh.

Not the best movie ever made, and it probably won't overwhelm you with its powerful storyline. But take it for what it is, a quirky, off-the-wall caper/romance/black comedy hybrid, and chances are you'll be quite pleasantly surprised. The protagonists are likable, the villains are cartoonish, and in the end the solid acting all around (I never realized what a good actor Danny Aiello can be) made this little low-budget noir almost believable, or at least endearing. And yes, the scenes with Angelina Jolie are on their own worth the price of admission - watch her electrifies the screen with every flick of a emerald-nail-polished finger and every mocking little grin. And you say to yourself, Man this girl is going to be a STAR...

Incidentally I think this is probably her best work before 1997's George Wallace, for which she won a Golden Globe. It's also probably the source of her fascination with Barstow...