Review of Down in the Valley (2005) by Daniel N — 24 May 2007

Great performances by Norton, Wood and Culkin. I look at it as a character study of two lonely kids, Tobe and her brother Lonnie, and cowboy Harlan. Tobe meets Harlan and immediately begins a passionate with him. Several characters touched me here: Lonnie's (aka Twig) loneliness and melancholic existence, their father Wade who seemed to me just as lonely as his son and a bit lost in regards of raising his children because of the lack of a mother at his side (presumably she died or left them though the audience never knows), Tobe who feels so sheltered and whose romance with Harlan promises to be all she really needs but her father's disapproval sends her into inevitable rebellious throes, and finally Harlan who was the most fascinating character of all who I could not help but sympathize with, no matter what he did.

See it.