Ready to rent Ready to rent (March 12, 2004)

Wonderland

New Line Home Video VHS & DVD 1 hr 44 mins Director: James Cox

There were a fair amount of slings when director James Cox's "Wonderland," the detailing of porn actor John Holmes' involvement in the 1981 gangland murders of the same name, came out last fall. In fact, the film was all but dismissed for being a nasty and unneeded portrait of a man whose story was only made because of the infamy of his physical endowment. To make matters worse, it was advertised as a type of retro, romanticized kitsch, flying on the tails of post "Boogie Nights" hunger for a nostalgic, sanitized portrayal of an infamous profession (to tell you the truth, that's why I rented the film). What I found, however, was a truly complex, "Rashomon"-type investigation story, where we cannot trust the sketchiness of the storytellers, who give different versions of one event.

The film uses flashbacks and forwards like gearshifts, grinding the tale of a party house on Wonderland Avenue in Los Angeles, a place, according to suspect David Lynn (Dylan McDermott), that still held the ideals of "the summer of love" attitude of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. The bulk of "Wonderland" attacks this fairytale with a strange, sobering vehemence. What we find in this endless party is a type of monarchy, where the king, Ron Launis (Josh Lucas), and his royalty, Billy Deverell (Tim Blake Nelson) and David Lynn, play their crooked roles of dealing and scheming. Their jester then comes in the form of John Holmes (played with nervous ferocity by Val Kilmer), who is a man of eternal excuses, a hustler, a speed freak, a man whose only physical attribute is seen as a novelty to those who tolerate him. Our glimpses into the murders come from suspect David Lynn, whose story paints him as the responsible hood, and later from Holmes himself, whose own sugarcoated recounting does likewise. The police play exhausted referees, not concerned so much with justice but only with a commitment to closure and procedure.

What I found so fascinating about the film was its sense of matter-of-factness toward the middle of the film, especially Holmes' willingness to sell anyone out just to stay out of trouble. I had always felt that Val Kilmer had never managed to lose a smug, self-conscious edge that ruins every performance of his. But here he is a revelation because he manages the difficult job of portraying Holmes as a likable yet dangerous infant, who seems to carry a curse that causes doom to anyone around him. Cinematographer Michael Grady shoots the secluded streets of LA in the apocalyptic color of burnt toast, akin to the dirty streets that author James Ellroy embellishes. In fact, it is Ellroy whose presence I felt all over "Wonderland." Like Ellroy's novels, it is not sexy or idealistic: Its characters are too feverish and self-centered. It is also not a moralistic condemnation of the porn industry or a romanticized embellishment of it, which I thought was a wise decision of director Cox. It lets the complexities of the story compel the viewer until its inevitable and shocking conclusion. @reviewertag:-Joe Ramirez

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