Kalifornia

Any film with a leading character called Early Grayce has to be pretentious, allegorical, or both. This one, however, also develops into a disturbing bloodbath thriller in its last 40 minutes, even if it's a long and languorous overture to this particular crescendo. David Duchovny plays writer Brian, who has a fascination with serial killers, out of which he intends to create a best-seller by visiting the sites of their slaughter across America. His girl (Michelle Forbes, latterly the luckless Lynne from 24), who hopes to have her pornographic pictures accepted as art, goes along to do the illustrations. Unfortunately, they take, as fuel-sharing companions, real multiple killer Early (Brad Pitt) and his feeble-minded mistress (Juliette Lewis). Early is a genuine psychopath, although it takes Brian most of the journey to find out, leading to some absorbing exchanges and shared experiences between the two men and the two girls before things explode. Pitt is genuinely menacing, but the strongest performance comes from Forbes in the least showy role.