A dark movie
DVD: The Paperboy Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack and David Ovelow Reviewed by: Samantha Keogh Revue made possible by: NuMetro
A dark movie that resonates with the social and racial overtones of 1960s South Florida’s backwoods villages and Cajun bayous.
Ward Jansen (McConaughey) and Yardley Acheman (Ovelow), two reporters for a Miami newspaper, are determined to investigate a murder case in Jansen’s home town, in which swamp dweller Hilary van Wetter (Cusack) has been sentenced to death in, seemingly, a flawed trial.
Onto the scene comes Charlotte Bless (Kidman) who has had a prolonged correspondence relationship with van Wetter (whom she has never met) and claims to be his fiancée.
Jansen’s younger brother Jack falls in lust with Charlotte – particularly after, in Jack’s company, she meets van Wetter, who turns out to be less than a gentleman.
Ward and Yardley’s investigation rips the scab off issues of race and social acceptance but lead to van Wetter’s release and his eventual marriage to Charlotte.
There’s more to that drama but to go into it here would spoil you viewing.
Based on a novel by Pete Dexter, who with Daniels also wrote the screenplay, The Paperboy is disturbingly raw and you will either love it or hate it.
Either way it will keep you riveted.
McConaughey and Kidman deliver convincing performances, as does Zac Efron (Jack) in a film which is dissonant in places and whose characters sometimes have a vague and unfocused relationship with each other but portray the milieu with biting accuracy.
