All Good Things
Inspired by the most notorious missing person’s case in New York history, All Good Things is a love story and murder mystery set against the backdrop of a New York real estate dynasty in the 1980s. Produced and directed by Andrew Jarecki (director of the Academy Award-nominated doc Capturing the Friedmans and producer of Catfish), the film was inspired by the story of Robert Durst, scion of the wealthy Durst family. Mr. Durst was suspected but never tried for killing his wife Kathie who disappeared in 1982 and was never found. The film stars Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella as the powerful patriarch, and captures the emotion and complexion of this real-life unsolved mystery.
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Stranger than Fiction,
ALL THINGS GOOD is a polished little film based on a true story that while it may not have the visual gruesome detail of the usual thriller tropes of films, it is terrifying in its presentation of personality variations that produce a shuddering reaction on a purely intellectual level for the audience. It is both a love story and a missing persons/murder mystery based on a still unsolved case that continues to haunt New York investigators and reporters and detectives. What writers Marcus Hinchey and Marc Smerling have created from known and newly discovered facts, speculation and court records results in a psychological examination of a powerful New York family, obsession, love and loss. The film relates incidents that began in 1972 and end in 2003 and at this time the truth is still unknown. Director Andrew Jarecki uses a superb cast and a fine sense of voice-over narration to interweave the puzzling history with the gradual dissolution of each of the characters involved.
Sanford Marks (Frank Langella) is one of the wealthiest owners of Manhattan real estate, the current head of a family that has long dominated the New York scene with its power and money. Marks is aging and is relying on his son David (Ryan Gosling) to take over the family business: he sends David out to the brothels, and filthy hotels and porn houses to collect rent. David is reticent to be a part of his father’s business: he is a deeply disturbed young man, having witnessed his mother’s suicide leap as a child. David meets a tenant in one of the properties – Katie McCarthy (Kirsten Dunst) who longs to go to medical school but at present has no income to support that dream. The chemistry between the two is magnetic and despite David’s father’s objection that Katie is not of ‘their kind of people’, David decides to marry Katie and move to Vermont to open a Health Foods store – a move that makes the couple ectsatic, but is financed by Sanford Marks who eventually convinces David to sell his haven and move to New York to stay with the family business.
In their Manhattan home (and in their country lake front home!) the couple flourishes until Katie mentions she’d like to have children – a force that drives David back into violent behavior resulting form his witnessing his mother’s suicide: David can’t understand why Katie would want anything but the obvious life of wealth they enjoy. The shell is cracked and the subsequent events include Katie becoming pregnant only to be forced by David to terminate the pregnancy, Katie’s disappearance after uncovering the facts about the sources of wealth of the family, David’s descent into drugs and irresponsible behavior, and ultimately his leaving New York for Galveston, Texas where he lives a life disguised as a woman, his only friend being another old runaway Melvin Bump (Philip Baker Hall) who David engages to do away with a ‘problem confidant’ (Lilly Rabe), after which Bump is killed and dissected and tossed into the river. The murders are never solved nor is the mystery of Katie’ disappearance. A trial (the source of the voice-over throughout the film has been the lawyer’s interrogation of David in the year 2003) fails to resolve anything and the film ends with the message that David Marks is at present a real estate broker in Florida.
Frank Langella is superb as the heartless father who drives his family like cattle in the quest of power and wealth. Ryan Gosling offer a multifaceted performance of the deeply disturbed David and is match by Kirsten Dunst’s bravura performance as Katie, the simple bright girl whose life is quashed by a powerful family’s sickness. The brilliant cast, including the performances by Philip Baker Hall and Lilly Rabe – daughter of the deceased Jill Clayburgh), has excellent cameo roles by Diane Venora, Trini Alvarado, David Margulies, Nick Offerman and many more. This is a tough film to watch because at the bottom of it all is that it is true and the cases are unsolved. It makes us cringe but it is a very fine film.
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|Traditional Crime Docu-Drama Dressed Up To Sophisticated And Riveting Entertainment,
If you’re old enough to remember the TV landscape from about a dozen years ago, you’ll remember that the airwaves were littered every week with crime stories “inspired by” or “based on” true events. This entertaining, yet exploitative, sub-genre straddling the line between thriller and docu-drama has since been shifted to cable TV for the most part and, generally, the quality of this type of film has been marred by an unnecessary camp factor. I mention this in preface to talking about the fascinating feature “All Good Things,” a film by award winning documentarian Andrew Jarecki, not as a negative association–but as an incredibly positive note. “All Good Things” employs everything that has been overdone about this genre, and despite the familiarity in story telling, stands as a richly intriguing and superbly acted drama. In truth, I loved “All Good Things!”
Based on a real New York missing person’s case involving a wealthy and powerful real estate family, “All Good Things” introduces us to the Marks clan. Ryan Gosling plays David Marks who has little interest or patience with the family business. Meeting a young woman, Kirsten Dunst, completely removed from the society set he’s been raised in–he sees her as a possible escape. But happiness is fleeting for the couple as Gosling is eventually brought back to deal with the seedier elements in his father’s empire. The couple’s relationship becomes increasingly strained until Dunst disappears. Investigated, yet unsolved, what happens remains a mystery until an ambitious District Attorney 18 years later decides to pursue matters further. That’s when things start to get really strange!
Of course, when you’ve got master actors at the top of their game–that certainly brings a welcome gravitas to the proceedings. I have, for many years, declared Ryan Gosling perhaps the best actor of his generation. Ever since he burst onto the film scene in the controversial “The Believer,” Gosling has eschewed being a mainstream “star.” Heck, after “The Notebook,” another actor might have taken a very different career path. But Gosling, despite a couple of disappointing forays into big budget Hollywood, has remained true to his indie roots. In “All Good Things,” Gosling is riveting–a socially awkward powder keg, he is strangely likable AND dangerously unhinged. It’s a great, fully rounded performance. Kirsten Dunst, as his wife, hasn’t been this good in years. An intriguing blend of strength and vulnerability, she becomes the heart and soul of “All Good Things.” And the terrific Frank Langella is mesmerizing, and filled with oily menace, as Gosling’s father.
The film is also great-looking, with its use of shadow and darkness. The score is fantastic as well–so haunting. The first two-thirds of “All Good Things” are absolutely flawless. The pairing of Dunst and Gosling and their story together is as polished and entertaining as anything you’re likely to see this year. However, when the film fast forward–it does suffer by comparison. This is where the story becomes utterly bizarre. I still loved it and it is undeniably fascinating, but it lacks the dramatic tension that had so distinguished the earlier sections. All in all, though, this is sophisticated adult entertainment and highly recommended. About 4 1/2 stars. KGHarris, 11/10.
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