The ‘true crime’ genre is all the rage in popular culture right now, with several shows, podcasts, and books achieving blockbuster status. They typically document stories of factual crimes, the psychological motivation behind them, and the ensuing investigation and fallout. Fictional adaptations on the small screen have been star-studded, widely seen, and award-winning. Notable hits include “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” with Penelope Cruz“The Dropout” with Amanda Seyfriedand “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” with Evan Peters. The prestige true crime boon hasn’t reached the big screen yet, though that may change after Ron Howard’s impressive “Eden,” an island-set period thriller that boasts a starry cast A-list cast.
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“Eden” concerns a famous case known as The Galapagos Affairin which seven Germans and Austrians relocated to the tiny, remote island of Floreana, in Ecuador’s Galápagos Archipelago, off the west coast of South America, in the Pacific Ocean, in the 1930s. Two ended up dead, and two went missing, and the conflicting accounts of the survivors mean the mystery remains unsolved today. But given this real-life story is ripe with outrageous detail, unhinged characters, and juicy shenanigans, it is a surprise no fiction adaptation was made before “Eden,” even following the 2013 documentary “The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden.” It seems Howard just about piped Paul Pawlikowski to the post, as Pawlikowski's version, “The Island,” starring Rooney Mara & Joaquin Phoenix, fell apart last year due to the actors’ strike. It was fortuitous for Howard because “Eden” was shot around the same time—with the actors able to participate because it was an independent production and qualified for a waiver. It seems unlikely now that Pawlikowski’s version will get off the ground.
Howard, for his part, has assembled a terrific all-star ensemble to play the seven characters who have left polite society behind and relocated to Floreana to live off the earth without the comforts of electricity and running water. Jude Law and Vanessa Kirby play Friedrich and Doar Ritter, the island’s original settlers. Daniel Brühl and Sydney Sweeney’s Heinz and Margaret Wittmer soon join them, tagging along a teenage son. They dutifully till the land, build houses, and create a life. Arriving like a destructive hurricane is Ana of Armas’ Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn, a wily, opportunistic con-woman looking to build a hotel for wealthy guests on the island. She wreaks havoc upon the established order, upends all social relationships, and comes into conflict with the others due to her vindictive lust to be the top dog on the island.
In the person of de Armas, Eloise is also a supremely confident woman who uses her sexual bravado to make men spin around her like tops. For her fake hotel project, she tows along two young studs—Rudolf Lorenz (Felix Kammererthe leading man of Edward Berger’s Academy Award-winning “All Quiet on the Western Front”) and Robert Philippson (Toby Wallace from “The Bikeriders” and “The Royal Hote.”) As soon as she arrives, she has a three-way with them on the beach. Subsequently, she pits them against each other for her sexual favors.
Most versions of the story might have begun in Germany, showing how these people came to be on the island, but thankfully, writer Noah Pink keeps things tight by directly opening “Eden” on Floreana. There are no cutaways or flashbacks to anywhere else. Besides the main seven characters and a handful of others, no one else appears on-screen—fully immersing viewers in the setting and characters. Due to mainly taking place outdoors, “Eden” doesn’t even feel like a period piece—another reason it could find an audience if pitched as a ‘true crime’ property.
“Eden” ultimately emerges as the most un-Ron Howard picture of his career. It actually has a pulse, features blood and guts, violence and nudity, powerful female protagonists, and a pungent, gritty tone. He’s usually known as a safe pair of inoffensive, competent studio hands. That he made “Eden” as an independent film with this cast is in itself remarkable.
Helping Howard tremendously is Ana de Armas’s preening, vampy, high-camp performance—one of the most entertaining and memorable villains in recent memory. She single-handedly elevates “Eden” to a lurid Black comedy with her uninhibited, go-for-broke energy – nailing the tone even more than Howard’s direction. De Armas delivers a capital M—movie-star performance, uncowed by all the experienced stars acting opposite her.
Matching her freak is Jude Law, who also delivers one of his most engaging and vital performances. Law brings an abrasive, hard-ass swagger to his part—in an early scene, he struts around full frontal as guests arrive at his house. He’s also physically up to the part—at 51, he appears fit and bronzed in spare island clothing. Sweeney, Brühl, and Kirby are quite good as the “straight” square characters in the story. Sweeney is, in fact, the closest thing to a main character and presents a very different side than the sexpot type that Hollywood has pigeon-holed her as. Kammerer also gets to do a lot as a man losing his bearings, while Wallace essentially plays a goon but manages to leave an impression.
Kammerer and Brühl are already German and speak in their native accents, while everyone else affects a German accent save for de Armas. The results are strong but inconsistent, with Kirby doing the best accent work and Law just lightly inflecting his voice. In a strange choice, Law and Sweeney switch to their regular accents during some of the voiceover sections. Adding to the authenticity is the stunning location photography. Any film set on location, with no hint of green screen, is to be applauded.
While the historical record of this tale is still in dispute with several theories proposed by experts as to what really transpired regarding the deaths and disappearances, Howard and Pink have chosen to present us with an unmysterious, definite set of events. Howard says there are only a few possibilities about what could have happened, and they picked the most reasonable theory. It is a less interesting though understandable choice and is the most significant concession “Eden” makes to audience expectations. All told, “Eden” is deeply engrossing throughout and is a compelling look at nasty, vicious characters cracking under trying conditions. The fact that all of this really happened makes this bizarre tale that much more intriguing. (B+)
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