The Salton Sea
The Salton Sea ★★ 2002 (R)
Feature debut by helmer Caruso is very good at getting down into the sleaze and grime of the world of methedrine addicts, dealers, and victims. Maybe too good. The parade of degradation drowns out everything else; the performances of Kilmer as the nominal hero, and D'Onofrio as kingpin/ sadist Pooh-Bear, the timeaddled plot that begs for concentration, and any sense that anything good will come from viewing this film. What it does, it does well, the question is, does anyone have the stomach to see it done? 103m/C VHS, DVD . US Val Kilmer, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Goldberg, Luis Guzman, Doug Hutchison, Anthony LaPaglia, Glenn Plummer, Peter Sarsgaard, Deborah Kara Unger, Chandra West, B.D. Wong, R. Lee Ermey, Shalom Harlow, Shirley Knight, Meat Loaf Aday, Azura Skye, Danny Trejo, Josh Todd; D: D.J. Caruso; W: Tony Gayton; C: Amir M. Mokri; M: Thomas Newman.