Kalifornia was released in 1993, the year prior to the O.J. Simpson case and the release of Natural Born Killers and Man Bites Dog, at a point when our cultural sympathy with outlaws and rebels was morphing into an outright fascination with their shadowy counterpart: the lone serial killer. In the years that followed, numerous figures would be propelled to an uncomfortable celebrity status based on nothing other than their success at violently realizing their contempt for the modern world and its inhabitants (Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber, and the Columbine killers come to mind). But even though Kalifornia appears to predict this trend, it gives us no real insight into it, because it approaches it in only the most superficial way possible. Even if the film shares many features with much stronger films, it never ascended to their place in the public consciousness in the way that the others did for a good reason.
Brian Kessler (David Duchovny) is working on a book about serial killers, but is approaching them from a totally clinical perspective (he’s also one of those goody liberal types who states that the answer to serial homicide is careful medication in a hospital setting rather than capital punishment). He decides that the best way to pump some fresh blood into his writing is to travel across the country visiting the sites of famous murders to get fresh perspective on them, and, hopefully, to ‘feel some of what they felt.’ Along with his photographer girlfriend Carrie (Michelle Forbes), he plans a trip to ‘Kalifornia’ (intentionally misspelled for no reason), and sets out a posting for accompanying passengers to share in food and gas costs. Early Grayce (Brad Pitt) and Adele Corners (Juliette Lewis) answer, and Kessler’s happy for their company for a little while. But as the trip wears on, Early’s true nature begins to reveal itself, and Kessler is forced to determine what he really believes.
Had the film been told from the perspective of Early or Adele, it might have had some interesting perspective to it, but it isn’t. It is anchored by Duchovny’s Kessler, who narrates the film in a softly intoned voice-over that recalls Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves both in intonation and in quality (‘the serial killers are so like us’). Though Kessler’s obsession with murder eerily reflects the culture at large’s, and he’s more than willing to flirt with his own darker instincts, he lacks the conviction to truly challenge Early’s sociopathology or his own pacifist sensibilities (which are repeatedly shown to be irreconcilable) unless he is truly forced to by extreme circumstances, contributing little of any value to the dialogue of his own life. He’s an automaton, really; a fairly empty vessel through which we may watch a story occur, rather than influence it.
The direct counterpoint that could be provided to that would be the conclusion, of course, which could probably be predicted by anyone who’s seen either Apocalypse Now or Straw Dogs, but it is and it isn’t. When Early finally forces him into a corner, Kessler discovers the violence within himself, but his character arc has been so telegraphed from the early scenes that it doesn’t seem as if the filmmakers ever questioned that that was the conclusion he would come to. Instead, it seems as if they had a point that they wanted to make, and then built some characters and a situation around it. But even as Kalifornia insists on the banal evil that lies inside mankind, it flinches, emphasizing the difference between Early and Kessler (and presumably the audience). In the final moments of the film, Kessler is allowed a few words about how even though we all have the capability to kill, he has remorse, which Early presumably did not. Even if he’s not a murderer, he’s something not much better: a tourist, who thrives on watching the plight and suffering of others, but does not cause it solely out of a need to feel that he is better than those he watches.
Kalifornia may have been ground-breaking in a way, but it isn’t confrontational, and it isn’t challenging, simply because it never asks us to think that there might be culpability on the part of any one but those already singled out for both adoration and repulsion. After a movie like this, that might be better than they deserve.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
This disc contains two versions of the film: the theatrical and the unrated (which is three minutes longer. It also features the film’s theatrical trailer.
"Kalifornia" is on sale August 3, 2010 and is rated R. Crime-Thriller. Directed by Dominic Sena. Written by Tim Metcalfe. Starring Brad Pitt, David Duchovny, Juliette Lewis, Michelle Forbes.
