Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
This time, Clint Eastwood, who is "director-cast" into action and macho movies, takes his camera to a world of decadence, sexual ambivalence, jazz, voodoo and American high society with European roots, where sin and crime rule, but with a dose of irony and detachment. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a cinematic trip to Savannah, heart of the South, where wealthy antique dealer Jim Williams is suspected of murdering his young lover. New York journalist John Kelso (Kevin Spacey) researches a story about Williams and Savannah's cast of characters such as singing transvestites, voodoo priestesses, or eccentric millionaires. Traditional morality gets suspended to expose the truth about a man who is ambiguous, mysterious, and not subject to easy judgement or classification. The role by Kevin Spacey, at the cusp of acting career greatness, certainly adds charm and, as regarded by Roger Ebert, is built on a comfortable drawl, perfect timing, a cigar as a prop and the Oscar-winning actor's own twinkling warmth.
awards
Society of Texas Film Critic Awards 1997 – Best Supporting Actor (Kevin Spacey)
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood (b. 1930, San Francisco) is a living Hollywood legend. Steven Spielberg called him maybe the last real man in American film. He abandoned sports and military careers in favor of television, making his debut in the Rawhide TV series. From there, he ventured to Italy where, inspired by Sergio Leone, he created the man with no name for the Spaghetti Western Dollars Trilogy. After getting back stateside, he portrayed another now iconic character, inspector Harry Callahan, aka Dirty Harry. On the set of that film, he replaced the director, Don Siegel, in several scenes. The same year, he debuted as a director in his own right with the thriller Play Misty for Me, produced by his own Malpaso studio established in 1967. Up until Bird, Eastwood's directorial efforts (mainly Westerns and action movies) were primarily a successful reworking of genre schematics. Starting with the Charlie Parker biopic, Eastwood's seasoned work takes on qualities of realistic psychological cinema with a moralist streak. Winner of two Oscars for directing, the Irvin Thalberg prize and an honorary Golden Palm (2002).
Selected filmography
1971 Zagraj dla mnie, Misty / Play Misty for Me
1980 Bronco Billy
1992 Bez przebaczenia / Unforgiven
2000 Kosmiczni kowboje / Space Cowboys
2003 Rzeka tajemnic / Mystic River
2006 Sztandar chwały / Flags of Our Fathers
2006 Listy z Iwo Jimy / Letters from Iwo Jima
2014 Jersey Boys
