I came across this movie from a trailer on another DVD. A cowboy lost in the city scenario intrigued me. And I wasn't too disappointed.

Ed Norton is fantastic and the dreamer cowboy, who is a bit mixed up but bascially a good lad at heart. I won't spoil the plot for the reader, but it has some twists and turns and you just want it to turn out right for Norton's character.

Some great acting, and pathos and very enjoyable. It's definitley worth seeing and just the sort of laid-back type of film to see on a sunny evening with a beer.

My biggest gripe with Down in the Valley is it's pacing. I'm not after action and violence, but I didnt want to be sent into a coma either. Everything just seems to happen too slow. And when things do finaly happen it kinda just, you know, happens. Nothing is shocking or powerful.
The best drawing point of the movie is the ever-brilliant Edward Norton. However, his character seemed a little characterless despite the fact that things were happening to his behaviour throughout. He is slowly built up to a ticking time bomb, but it turns out that the bomb fizzles rather than explodes. As soon as he rides off on his horse he takes you're interest and hope in the movie with him.
The final 10 minutes seemed to rushed and lacked direction. The ending wasn't even hard hitting despite the fact that it really should have been. The movie failed to apear creepy, distubing, interesting or any other adjective you'd expect this movie to bear.

Shame

A unique movie very much worth seeing for its exploration of alienation and dehumanisation of the individual in the modern western world. However, not in a bleak or pesimistic way, but tender and touching; tense and thrilling at times; controvertial until the end.

This one tells the tale of Harlan, a man clad in the dress and mannerisms of a cowboy despite living in the cowboy-free zone of twenty-first century LA. He's a misfit, as you would expect, but things perk up for Harlan when he meets rebellious wee thing Tobe (short for October) and the two hit it off right away. The film follows the development of their relationship - her, smitten by his anachronistic nature; him, smitten by her... well, because she's cute and doesn't make fun of his hat - and the inevitable complications they face as Tobe's stern father decides he doesn't like this cowboy fellow one little bit.

Edward Norton adds to the list of complex, interesting characters he's played on film with this one. His Harlan is a pleasing mish-mash of contradictions (old fashioned when it suits him, modern when it doesn't) who you can't help feeling for even as you cringe when he does something inappropriate. Many big name actors would have avoided this part like a potential stain on their list of purely heroic (and entirely unrealistic) portrayals, so hats off to Norton for his willingness (as with American History X) to take the road less travelled.

Also excellent here is the always excellent David Morse as Tobe's father, a man who perhaps better represents the true nature of the old west (as opposed to Harlan's dangerously romanticised version). Once again, this is a characterisation that choses real-world moral ambiguity over simplistic good guy/bad guy options. Morse's Wade is a guy you sometimes like and sometimes don't, just like real people.

As for the rest of the cast, Evan Rachel Wood does well as the feisty Tobe, while Rory Culkin (very good in Mean Creek) continues to prove he might be the most talented member of his clan.

If you're a fan of independent drama, you really can't go wrong with this one. I liked it a lot. It has great acting all around, refuses to over-analyse its characters (thank the gods - no backstory), and tells an enthralling story that builds to a perfect yet unexpected conclusion. Highly recommended.

Annoyingly, Edward Norton hasn't made many films recently and I was waiting a long time to see this. Thanks largely to good performances from Edward Norton and the very busy Evan Rachel Wood this is an entertaining enough movie. It will pass the time amicably enough, but I feel the script could have been stronger.

The film teeters near the edge of a fish-out-of-water comedy/melodrama as we have a cowboy out of place in L.A. Then it comes close to being a much sinister and darker film. It never can quite make up it's mind what it wants to be. Also, you have no idea what is motivating the main character to do what he does in the final third of the film. He may be a little unstable and a little strange, but, as a non-mainstream, character-driven film, you would expect a little more character study and some insight into his actions.

As in `Primal Fear', Norton displays his acting range by switching from an innocent, out-of-place guy to a threatening menace, but the director (who also wrote the film) cannot commit to either side of the character. He flirts with the idea of Norton as an innocent and as a menace, but never takes the story fully in that direction.

It is good, however, to see two great actors of our generation - Norton and Wood - in the same film together. And all in all it is a solid, entertaining film.