The Passion of Darkly Noon

Plot synopsis:
Darkly Noon (Fraser) is a young man who has spent his entire life as a member of an ultraconservative Christian cult. He received his unusual name from a passage on the Bible. After a violent altercation that results in the dissolution of the cult and the death of Darkly's parents, a disoriented Darkly wanders into a forest in the Appalachian region of North Carolina and is rescued from exhaustion by a coffin transporter named Jude (Loren Dean) and his friend Callie (Ashley Judd).
Callie nurses Darkly back to health, but Darkly is frustrated by the conflict between his religious past and his attraction to his new companion. Darkly's frustration intensifies when Clay (Viggo Mortensen), Callie's mute boyfriend who builds the coffins Jude sells, returns home after being away for a few days. When Darkly encounters Clay's mother, Roxy (Grace Zabriskie), his internal conflicts grow even stronger. Roxy despises the relationship between Clay and Callie, and tells Darkly that she believes Callie is a witch bent on destroying Roxy's family.
Finally, in the film's climax, Darkly's rage boils over. Having wrapped himself in barbed wire and armed with one of Clay's chisels, he bursts into Callie and Clay's house, intent on murdering the couple, whom he discovers having sex. After a scene of horrific destruction, Darkly is finally tamed by Callie's confession that she loves him. Unfortunately for Darkly, Jude arrives, rifle in hand, to rescue Callie and Clay. Jude shoots Darkly, who laments, "Who will love me now?" as he lies dying.

Tags: psychedelic, cult, magical realism

Review:
You once again get a new facet of Brendan Fraser's acting ability during his portrayal of the tortured Darkly Noon.
It's hard to describe this, except to say that the film both brings you together with one character's descent into madness while also introducing you to people who seem as though they stepped right out of a story book.At times, it has the feel of some children's tale of a lost soul wandering through the woods, encountering various odd characters.
The difference is that this isn't a children's tale, and the emotions and imperatives are being experienced by adults, though not always with a mature sense of self-control.Ashley Judd is both eerily wistful and intensely sensuous as a young lady seemingly without any concept of shame or self consciousness, and deeply in love.
I don't care what anyone else tells you, if you truly love great writing and movies that get to you where no other ones can, then you have to see The Passion of Darkly Noon.
During the beginning of the movie, I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about the film, but afterwards, I sat in awe of what had been displayed.
Like his self-inflicted wounds, Darkly, himself, became infected and turned to poison (just as Callie said) because he wasn't tended to the way he needed to be.His cultist parents popped back into his mind and everything was a sin again.
And he allows himself to be manipulated because he knows that he will finally be loved, not by Callie, but by God, by something.It's the development of Darkly that makes the story.
And while some people question some of the roles he takes on, everyone of those roles fills as if he was born to play them.I loved "George of the Jungle" not only because he was mostly naked most of the movie, but also because he was so GOOD as the title character.
He can take cartoon characters on and have fun with them.Since this is a review of "The Passion of Darkly Noon," I'll stop writing about Brendan's other movies.
He mastered everything nuance and side of his character, from Darkly's naivete and his blind devotion to his cult's belief in the Bible, to his fierce need to be cleansed and right with God and his transformation into an Angel of Death filled with fury.In short (and in closing), I found this film to rich in characters played by talented actors and rich in deep and significant intent.
The word Enjoy seems to project this sense of being entertained, and while "The Passion of Darkly Noon" is a movie and movies are meant to entertain, this film is not about entertainment, it's about emotions, thinking, feeling and understanding.
It's meant to give you that "I've just experienced something very intriguing and wildly amazing" feeling.I hope other people took something from this movie and that the makers of the film know that it is an appreciated piece of work.
It's very much like a magical realist novel in how it mixes aspects of modern life and society with fairy tale mythology and a general dreamlike atmosphere.The story is basically about a young man named Darkly Noon who has been brought up by religious fanatics and who stumbles upon a weird "family" of three that lives deep in the woods after his parents are murdered.
At the beginning Darkly, played by Brendan Fraser who is actually downright awesome in this film, is alone with Callie, which causes a lot of confusion as he's attracted to her and his sexual desires clash with both his religious dogmas and, upon his return, with her boyfriend.
Things go very wrong from there...The Passion of Darkly Noon is a tough film to describe because there really are not a lot of movies that are anything like it.
It is expertly and effectively directed by Philip Ridley, who has only directed this film and THE REFLECTING SKIN a few years before it and spends most of his time writing children's books.
Special praise has to go to Nick Bicat for a truly haunting score that fits the style of the film and John de Borman's lush cinematography perfectly.THE PASSION OF DARKLY NOON is the best film I have seen in a long time and a genuine discovery..
While driving through the forest to the isolated house of the lovers Callie (Ashley Judd) and Clay (Viggo Mortensen), the driver Jude (Loren Dean) finds a young man fainted on the road.
When he awakes, he tells his name, Darkly Noon (Brendan Fraser), and explains that his religious parents had been killed in their house by the furious locals and he had successfully escaped with his bible.
When the confused Darkly meets the deranged widow Roxy (Grace Zabriskie) in the woods, she tells him that Callie is a witch that killed her husband and that bewitches young men.
When Roxy commits suicide, the insanity of the fanatic Darkly leads him to punish the sinners."The Passion of Darkly Noon" is another excellent and underrated movie of director Philip Ridley.
Today I have watched "The Passion of Darkly Noon" for the second time and this movie still very impressive.
In 1995, Brendan Fraser proved for me that he is a great actor with his performance of a young man living in a conflictive situation between his religious credo and his carnal desire in spite of being miscast, since his character is a kid and Brendan was twenty-seven year-old in 1995, the same age of the sexy Ashley Judd (both were born in 1968).
Striking editing, good music, fine acting and excellent direction (by Philip Ridley, a name I'll keep in mind).The reason I saw the film in the first place - Viggo Mortensen has a supporting role as mute husband to the nymph (Ashley Judd).
He does a phenomenal role portrait in the difficult title role.Darkly Noon is an unpredictable film that surely haven't got the audience and critique it deserves.
Fraser plays Darkly Noon, who finds himself separated from a strong religious family and is wandering in the woods.
He is befriended by Judd, who plays the part of Callie, a very seductive soul who lives in the woods with her mute boyfriend.Fraser's character soon begins lusting for Judd (and who wouldn't?) and has to battle with his religious upbringing and his impure thoughts.
It doesn't have a complex plot or highly developed characters: it is essentially like a short story rather than a novel, a snapshot of the demise of the main character, but done so effectively as to immerse you completely in the vast forest and leave you thinking about what has transpired long after the film has ended.
"the Passion of Darkly Noon" has to be one of the most bleak and emotional films I have seen.
Brandon Fraiser gives an amazing and overlooked performance as Darkly Noon; a naive young Christian man who's just escaped a waco like religious cult.
Since Darkly has lived a secluded life with not much contact of the outside world, he doesn't know how to deal with his sexual feelings for Callie.
For one thing, by following the descent into madness of just one character, rather than an entire town, it gives the surrealistic bent of the story a lot more linear structure than anything Lynch has done, and is therefore more accessible to an audience less accustomed to dealing with his cinematic brand of dream-logic.Plus there's the rare treat of seeing Brendan Fraser in a role that actually requires ACTING, not lending anthropomorphic life to dumb-hunk cartoon characters like Dudley Do-Right and George-of-the-Jungle.
His Darkly is a child-man who can evoke feelings of pity, sadness, horror, disgust and empathy from the audience, sometimes all in the same scene.Ashley Judd comes on like a distant relative of Laura Palmer who exists in a parallel universe, just as Viggo Mortensen is the "flip" side of killer BOB; his life energy channeled into his potent sexuality and the strong feelings he has for Judd's character, rather than the Essence of Pure Evil, which is why he's a lightweight when the time comes to confront a raging Noon.PEAKS gets more homage paid to it by the way the dreamy German forest locales are shot and lit.
Were it a little less dependent on the TP stuff, and a chapter breakdown of Darkly's descent into insanity that Kubrick put to similar use in THE SHINING, NOON would've intrigued and disturbed me a lot more than it actually did.Where the similarities between Ridley's movie and Lynch's work begin and end is pretty simple.
Brendan Fraser plays the man and we discover later that his name is Darkly Noon.
Here, Fraser plays Darkly, a kid who has lost his parents (who are so religiously strict they make the pope seem like George Carlin) and later finds a beautiful woman (Ashley Judd is good in this role) and loves her dearly but is torn between his beliefs (and her boyfriend played by Viggo Mortensen).
The story follows on as Darkly is very religious Callie a free-spirited    girl and Darkly cant stand it because he looks up to hisparent and they taught how things should be.Callie doesn't seem to agree and thinks life should be free and havingdesires and love is not a crime.His jealousy grows when Callie's boyfriend returns Darkly seems to be having some deep feelings for Callie which he can not control.I thought this film was very intense and dark it was one of Brendan Fraser's darkest roles i've ever seen he played the role with sensitivity and vulnerability..
The Passion of Darkly Noon is an extraordinarily beautiful film.
The music is superb and so are the photography and the performances, especially that of Brendan Fraser who gives his best shot to prove that he's worth much more than his previous movies suggested.
Directed in a dark, grueling way, with compelling scenes in the woods and the inner psychology of the heroes reaching the sought for redemption at the unpredictable end, The Passion of Darkly Noon is a film not only for a small audience but for one which will either love of hate it.
The tone is murky and off-balance, as it should be, but all the scenes dont work, particularly, the Grace Zabriskie character and Darkly Noon, and some of the symbolic devices like the cave and the big shoe.
The Passion of Darkly Noon started out as a highly symbolic and thought provoking film....and then it went too far.
Only watch this film if you are a true BF fanatic or if you just like weird movies..
Brendan Fraser plays a stuttering, sheltered man-child who knows nothing about the world except what he's been taught by his religious fanatic parents.
After he watches them die in a Branch-Davidian type incident, he wanders into the care of a beautiful outcast (Ashley Judd) who lives in the woods with her volatile, mute boyfriend.
Fraser plays the Darkly Noon of the title who is found by a labourer and taken to his friends, Caly and Clay who reside in the forest.
This film starts out well enough: a young man (Darkly Noon, played by Brendan Fraser) stumbling through the forest collapses onto a dirt road and is found and taken to the home of Callie (Ashley Judd).
The use of blood and gore as an attempt to shock the viewer is overdone and unnecessary.Brendan Fraser's association with this film is in line with his previous work (Encino Man, Airheads), but Judd's involvement is a disappointment following the excellent Ruby in Paradise..
'The passion of Darkly Noon' is probably one of the worst movies I have ever watched.
The Passion of Darkly Noon is an extremely difficult film to describe.
The performances of Brendan Fraser, Ashley Judd and Viggo Mortensen are pretty good, considering that the material they are working with is generally mediocre.The story finds stranger Darkly Noon (Fraser) being found half-dead in the dense forest near to an isolated cabin owned by young lovers Judd and Mortensen.
They bring Darkly Noon back to their home and nurse him to health, but he seems to take an unhealthy liking to Judd, participating in all kinds of voyeuristic activities (such as masturbating aggressively whilst spying on her through a peep-hole).The film spends an inordinate amount of time trying to create an oppressive atmosphere.
The sexual tension supposedly running through the film is frequently neglected in favour of visual flourishes and yet more atmospherics.The Passion of Darkly Noon may interest those who like the slow-burning Twin Peaks style of drama.
This is a tensive film where Darkly (Brendan Fraser)is in a struggle between his beliefs and the love for Callie (Ashley Judd) .A mix of fantasy and reality is presented to you,wich you enter easily due to perfect performances of the actors involved.You will be having opposite feelings about the characters in the course of the movie.
The Passion of Darkly Noon gripped me right from the start and I stayed in the moment throughout the whole movie.
Philip, un-daunted by the lack of reflection cast by 'The Reflecting Skin' at the box office took drastic action to correct his skittishness by naming his next film 'The Passion Of Darkly Noon'.
Fraser (Darkly) does a great performance when his character is conflicted between the shy religious sheltered boy and the almost psychotic man, but as one or the other he falls a bit short on the believability scale.
This was hands-down one ofthe 5 worst movies I have ever seen.Brendan Fraser and Ashley Judd do what they can with the terribleroles they were given, but I will never understand how they werecoerced into making such a film..
He is a true visionary and he managed to get three of the best performances from three of the best actors in Hollywood @ the time i.e. Brendan Frasier, Ashley Judd, and Viggo Mortensen.
The Passion of Darkly Noon has got to be the strangest movie I have ever seen.
I would have had no idea about this movie unless it was recommended by Mark Kermode (in a recent interview with director Philip Ridley) because, to be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of either Brendan Fraser or Ashley Judd.
Brendan Fraser plays Darkly Noon, a man raised in a Bible-believing cult who, through circumstance encounters Callie (Ashley Judd), who lives with her boyfriend Clay (Viggo Mortensen, in a wordless performance).
Made in 1995, the film boasts impressive turns from Brendan Fraser, Ashley Judd, Viggo Mortensen and Grace Zabriskie, and yet it remains almost unheard-of to this date.
Darkly Noon (Fraser) is a young, naive man who escaped a massacre at the strict religious commune in which he grew up.
Lost deep within the forest in Southern America, he's taken in by the beautiful Callie (Judd) and her mute lover Clay (Mortensen).
Some possible SPOILERS follow:Philip Ridley has produced a genuinely poetic yet nightmarish piece in Passion of Darkly Noon.
See another Philip Ridley's movie Reflecting Skin -- equally bizarre, stunning atmospherics, wonderfully disturbing yet beautiful imagery..
The Passion of Darkly Noon deals with serious subject matter and has a potential to be very challenging and stunning piece of art, and fortunately it succeeds almost, but not entirely.*THIS PARAGRAPH DOESN'T INCLUDE SPOILERS, BUT DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE FILM* Brendan Fraser plays Darkly Noon, a young boy who is found on the road in the middle of a huge forest where beautiful Callie (Ashley Judd, the cutest thing on Earth) and his husband Clay (Viggo Mortensen) lives.
Callie cures Darkly and lets him stay with her house for a while; Clay is not home, but he should come back in couple of days.
There is one little scene at the end of this film, when Darkly seems to stop and think a little bit, but it is too late in that point for him and Callie.
This could have been even more powerful film if these two main protagonist Callie and Darkly were little more developed and deep, and if between them was created a strong emotional relationship.
If Ridley had written his characters with even more empathy and emotion, The Passion of Darkly Noon would've probably been worth a masterpiece status.Visually this film is incredible, as the photography is gorgeous and the forest is captured very beautifully, and the film looks pretty much like Heavenly Creatures and also David Lynch films.
Also worth mentioning is the beauty of Ashley Judd, who really is an angel in here and is another element found in Lynch movies.
I can only wonder what this film would be like, if Judd's and Fraser's characters were emotionally perfectly developed, but still I'm definitely not disappointed.The Passion of Darkly Noon is great, beautiful and symbolic film and lacks only the things described above about the characters.
The first hour of the movie or so had me convinced that this wasn't going to be any different than any of the others, but the last half hour was some of the finest footage ever put to film!The story begins with Darkly Noon (Brendan Fraser) wounded and wandering through the woods.
He is found by one of the local townsfolk and taken to recuperate with Callie (Ashley Judd) and her boyfriend Clay (Viggo Mortensen).
He begins to get in touch with his psychotic side and then some of the weirdest stuff you'll ever see begins to happen!In some ways, I feel bad in explaining about Darkly's psychotic break, but the movie just isn't worth watching if you don't have a reason.
Brendan Fraser plays the role of a man who has lived under the severe guidance of hyper-religious parents.
I wanted to rent a film but decided not to do it because they were showing "Darkly Noon" on Cable TV.
The only light of this whole film is Ashley Judd as CALLIE: She is sweet and at the same time sexy and she knows she can be tempting.