David and Katie continue to drift further apart as Katie fills her life with medical school and David becomes more entrenched in his father's shady work, but not enough to secure his place as head of the company when his father retires, a spot given to his younger brother. As tension grows between the pair and even becomes violent at times, Katie decides she wants out, but she never gets the chance and instead vanishes, never to be seen again. An exhaustive search is led for Katie by her family, but they come up empty. David eventually moves to Galveston, Texas seeking anonymity and begins dressing as a woman. He becomes friends with his cranky old neighbor, Malvern Bump (Philip Baker Hall), all the while he is sending money to his former friend, Deborah Lehrman, who begins pressing him for even more money. Lehrman also agrees to speak to the District Attorney hot to re-open Katie Marks' disappearance. Soon thereafter, both Lehrman and Bump are dead and Marks finds himself on trial.
The entire story is told through a series of flashbacks while Marks is on trial for the murder of Malvern Bump, since much of the filmmakers' source material came from Durst's actual trial transcript. The film is excellent and I really enjoyed Andrew Jarecki's directing style; he weaves a good tale. Ryan Gosling is pretty amazing as David Marks, however Kirsten Dunst outshines him. She really makes you feel for this poor woman who becomes trapped in the web of a wealthy family and a very troubled husband. Frank Langella is stellar in anything he does and the same is true for his role as Sanford Marks. He is absolutely withering in his condescension to everyone around him and he plays quite the bastard. Kristen Wiig also makes a brief appearance as a friend of the couple.
Special features are incredibly interesting and include deleted scenes, several featurettes on researching the source material, plus interviews with the actual friends and family of Kathie and Robert Durst, a brief piece on how Ryan Gosling's extensive makeup (for his aged self) was applied, as well as two different commentaries. One is the filmmakers discussing how it all came together, but there's also one with director Andrew Jarecki and Robert Durst. It's amazing how much information Durst imparts, while not really saying anything at all. While All Good Things looks and sounds very crisp, it's not necessarily the type of film that begs to be on Blu-ray. That being said, there are certain scenes, particularly the ones that take place against the backdrop of a 1980's, cocaine-fueled New York party scene, that look particularly lush and the soundtrack is amazing.
If you enjoy a good mystery/thriller, you should check out All Good Things. The acting and directing is fantastic and it's based upon a true story, which to me, always makes it that much more interesting. Highly recommended.
