TWO DAYS IN THE VALLEY

US, 1996, 104 minutes, Colour.
James Spader, Eric Stoltz, Charlize Theron, Keith Carradine, Louise Fletcher, Austin Pendleton, Marsha Mason, Paul Mazursky, Peter Horton, Glenne Hedley, Jeff Daniels, Teri Hatcher, Danny Aiello.
Directed by John Herzfeld.

Two Days in the Valley is a smart crime thriller set in Los Angeles over a period of two days, where the heat is palpable. The film is made in the Robert Altman vein, that is multiple stories intersecting each other. They range from the police, insurance fraud, a has-been director who is suicidal, two women involved in their own schemes and webs.

The film has a very strong cast and was an early film of Charlize Theron who went on to win an Oscar for Monster. Many solid American character actors are included in the cast especially Glenne Hedley and Eric Stoltz. Keith Carradine and Louise Fletcher represent the older generation as does director Paul Mazursky and Marsha Mason. Teri Hatcher, later of Desperate Housewives, is also in the cast.

John Herzfeld wrote and directed a comparatively few films and television programs. They include the John Travolta-Olivia? Newton-John? fantasy Two of a Kind as well as the telemovie Don King with Ving Rhames and the thriller Fifteen Minutes with Robert de Niro.

This is a latter-day film noir in bright Los Angeles colour.

1. The structure of the film and its impact? The many strands, audience interest in each of them, in the intersecting and intercutting? The Robert Altman style of large-scale movie-making with many plots?

2. Los Angeles, the Valley, the look of the Valley, the different sites, homes? The streets? Affluence? The background for crime? The characters in this context? The musical score?

3. The structure of the film, the different focus points, the different links, the unity of intrigue, action and violence, shooting and death?

4. The focus on Lee and Dosmo, their characters, their work, listening to each other? The encounter with Roy, his wife? The sexual relationship? The minute and the questions? Killing? Lee and his icy manner, the plant, Helga? The relationship? Sexual drive? Dosmo, the Italian background, the clash, the vest, the escape? The confrontation and the vest, the shooting? Wes and the killing?

5. Dosmo, Susan? The meal, the director and Audrey? Helga? The plan to kill Lee? Susan and her achievement at the end?

6. The director, Evelyn, the dog? Ralph? The attempt to kill, not able to? The cement, Audrey, going to Dosmo, no fears? Helga, the killing of Lee? The future?

7. Becky and the truth, the relationship with Lee, the plan, Helga and Roy, the guns, the shooting and death?

8. Wes, the massage, the interaction with Lee, the shooting?

9. The contrast with Alvin, rigid, right, his daughter, the medical situation?
10. Detective Creighton, Carla? Death?


11. The short cuts, the action, the confrontations, the pacing? Crime, innocence, double-cross and fraud, victims? Violence and justice?