Imagine a film starring "Oscar"-awarded actor, directed by "Oscar"- awarded director and written by an author who would later get "Oscar" for best screenplay. Sounds great, doesn't it? Not if you happen to be experienced film goer, and especially not if your experiences include films like Silent Fall, 1994 psychological thriller directed by Bruce Beresford.
The film starts with a gruesome murder of Wardens, wealthy couple who are found savagely slashed to death in their home. The massacre was survived by their two children - 17-year old daughter Sylvie (played by Liv Tyler) is found bruised and unconscious in the closet, while her autistic child brother Tim (played by Ben Faulkner) is found brandishing the bloody knife. Sheriff Mitch Rivers (played by J.T. Walsh) is convinced that the boy witnessed the crime and must find way to snatch the killer's identity out of him. He approaches Jake Reiner (played by Richard Dreyfuss), child psychiatrist specialised for work with autistic children. Reiner is haunted by the memories of child who died under his care and agrees to help only when his rival Dr. Harlinger (played by John Lithgow) offers alternative in the form of truth drugs. Reiner slowly builds the confidence of a little boy, as well as his attractive older sister, and tries to discover truth about the murders.
The "Oscar"-awarded scriptwriter in this case is Akiva Goldsman. That information should be enough for experienced viewers, at least those who want psychological thrillers in which murder mystery is actually a mystery and where the identity of killer won't be obvious an hour before the end titles. Series of cliches and utter predictability of the story was such that almost anyone, Beresford included, gave up on this film and concentrated their efforts on getting pay checks instead of creating at least a tolerable film product. This is especially so with the actors. Dreyfuss rarely played the role with less interest and skill as in Silent Fall, while most of his colleagues get wasted in thankless, one-dimensional roles (especially Linda Hamilton, who is almost unnoticeable in the role of Reiner's wife). Even J.T. Walsh is disinterested for the rare opportunity to play a good guy for a change. Liv Tyler in her first role shows the lack of acting experience, but future heroine of Lord of the Rings is at least good to look at (at least for the male part of the audience). Peter James' cinematography also captures Maryland autumn exteriors in all their beauty, but those lovely sights are hardly the reason why should people sacrifice almost two hours of their lives by watching Silent Fall.
RATING: 3/10 (+)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on January 29th 2003)
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