All Good Things DVD

All Good Things is a crime thriller due for release on DVD on March 29, 2011.  It is based on a true story about murder and mystery.  Directed by Andrew Jarecki, the film was released to a limited amount of theaters on December 3, 2010.  The talented cast stars leading man Ryan Gosling and popular actress Kirsten Dunst, also featuring roles played by Kristen Wiig, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Frank Langelia.  Distributed by Magnolia Pictures, All Good Things is classified as a suspense/romance.

All Good Things DVD

This film follows a promising young man who plays a large role in New York's real estate dynasty, set in the eighties.  The man, played by Gosling, falls for a woman, played by Dunst, who is considered to be of a much lower status than himself.  The romance buds against all odds, leaving the two looking as though they have a bright future.  The future looks darker when Dunst's character disappears, leaving many questions as to what happened and where she went.  Authorities begin investigating the case, only to find that important characters are showing up dead.  The truth is a mystery as the plot of this crime thriller unfolds.

What makes All Good Things so interesting is that it is based on true events.  Gosling's character, David Marks, is rather reminiscent of Robert Durst, an heir to a real-estate fortune whose wife went missing in 1982.  Marks was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a light form of autism that leaves patients fully functional, but socially awkward.  As the disappearance of his wife was being investigated, his friend, who happened to
be a journalist, shows up dead, as does another woman, and a neighbor, who was found dismembered.  This film looks to implicate Marks in these cases by recreating the story.

All Good Things was directed by Andrew Jarecki  who was acclaimed for his recent documentary work, so the fiction style filming of this production was a shock to many audiences.  Perhaps it was legal reasons that led his to take this approach, but his motives are clear.  Jarecki seeks to take a deeper look into these unsolved mysteries, as well as to make a statement about society in general.  He forces the audience to question what it means to be a psychopath, an outcast from society, and asks us to give people more layers than that.  The characters of the film are well-developed, and Jarecki is praised for controlling such a large cast on his first feature film production.

Abi Motala