Na Trilha da Vingança

¨You want to tell me what went wrong last night? ¨

I think I just found the number 1 contender for worst film of the year, at only 90 minutes long this film is so tedious and pointless that I felt it was never going to end. It tries too hard to be an art house film, but we've seen these character driven neo noir films done much better in the past. I don't even think this film makes sense or tries to deliver any sort of message. You don't even know when the main character is imagining things or living reality; everything is so ambiguous and vague. Tomorrow You're Gone never goes anywhere and it's a shame because Stephen Dorff and Michelle Monaghan are pretty good actors. This is just a waste of their talents and a waste of our time. Director David Jacobson (Down in the Valley) has made one pretentious movie and with the help of screenwriter Matthew F Jones (Deepwater and A Single Shot) he has made one of the worst films I've seen in a long time. I usually take something positive about a film no matter how much I dislike it, but I cannot say anything good about this movie. There is not one single thing that I like about this pretentious thriller. Willem Defoe could be the best thing about this film, but he is in this movie as much as he is in the trailer. This is a complete waste of time so stay away from this film.

Charlie Rankin (Stephen Dorff who gave his best performance in 2010 in Somewhere) is getting out of prison after four years, but before he leaves he receives a letter from his mentor in prison, the Buddha (Willem Dafoe), who asks him to kill someone for him. As soon as Charlie gets out of prison he goes looking for this man and receives a special payment from the Buddha. However, something goes wrong with the hit and Charlie can't quite settle his debt with him. Along the way Charlie encounters a mysterious woman named Florence (Michelle Monaghan) who for I don't know what reason sees the good in Charlie and tries to rescue him from his pain. Together they embark on a road trip and half of the time you don't even know what the two are talking about. It's hard to explain the plot of the movie when nothing really makes much sense and most of the things going on seems like they are all imagined by Charlie. There is a thin line between reality and fantasy here, and Charlie has some serious and dark unresolved issues going on. I really hated this movie and I can't say it enough times, stay as far away from this film as possible.

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Charlie Rankin (Stephen Dorff), recently released from prison, seeks vengeance for his jail-house mentor William "The Buddha" Pettigrew (Willem Dafoe). Along the way, he meets the ethereal, yet streetwise, Florence Jane. They embark on a unlikely road trip, careening towards an unlikely redemption and uncertain resolution.

Although this film had many good moments (such as the home invasion) and it is possibly Dorff's final acting to date (he has really blossomed in this role) it overall just seems too uneven and did not resonate well with me.

The primary problem I had was with Florence. She was not someone I felt the audience could understand or appreciate. Why did Rankin like her? Their whole relationship is built on nothing. And yes, I understand this is a whimsical road trip without commitment... but she was just the wrong character for such a thing.

And if there was a deeper message, I missed it. All that occurred to me is that Charlie Rankin has the same name as the Nazi in Orson Welles' "The Stranger". I sincerely doubt this was intentional, because trying to draw parallels is far too difficult -- Welles' Rankin is a false identity hiding from his criminal past. Rankin is this film uses the alias Samson and he, too, has a criminal past he cannot overcome. But that is it (and only works in the most vague way).

The novel probably clears things up, but after seeing the film I have little motivation to seek it out.

TOMORROW YOU'RE GONE is no thriller, which is not, of course, an entirely bad thing. It's a strange, dreamlike, and fairly uneventful film about Charlie Rankin (Dorff) being released after a four-year stint in prison, intent on wreaking vengeance on those who put him there and performing "hits" against adversaries of "The Buddha"(Dafoe), another former--now dead?--inmate who acts as his ethereal mentor. He also meets "Florence Jane" (Monaghan) the girl of many-a-guy's dreams, but not Rankin's, who just wants to be friends with her. Florence Jane, it would seem, is a sort of guardian angel figure save, perhaps, the "guardian" part. Much of it is open to interpretation, and much of it simply doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

More thematic and atmospheric than action-oriented, TOMORROW YOU'RE GONE is well-filmed and well-played, and much of the script (especially Florence Jane's) is quite memorable without being overly pretentious: See the quote from "The Buddha" used as my title here. TYG also has things to show and tell us about the futility of vengeance, the destructive nature of bitterness, and various other things.

If only the plot were better. . .

A very sexist movie about a weak male character and a pretty female character that strangely tries to have sex with him all the time... It goes no further that that. Its all about them in the car talking bad dialogues that claim to be deep and dark but they're really just bad written. Didn't get to the end. Waste of good actors!

"You have me to get you started out" Charlie Rankin (Dorff) has just got out of prison and stops in to see a man called "The Buddha" (Dafoe) who was writing him in prison. He is told about someone he is to murder for him. When the murder goes wrong Charlie begins to worry about what will happen. Him and a woman named Florence (Monaghan) begin to hang around together and Charlie thinks it will help, but he isn't sure of anything anymore. I have to start by saying that I did enjoy this and I recommend this movie but it is not for everyone. While not a total "art-house" type movie it is in that vein. The movie is more of a character driven type movie then I was expecting, but I really think that helped the movie. Dorff is good in this and Defoe has a strong and powerful presence even though he is only in it a few minutes. This is not really a fast paced movie but it will keep you watching right up until the end. I liked it. Overall, not a movie for everyone but well worth checking out. I say B.