Mortal Thoughts

Demi Moore stars in this suspenseful, atmospheric thriller as Cynthia, a middle class New Jersey woman who gets involved in murder. Harvey Keitel plays a detective who grills Cynthia for a videotaped confession and the bulk of the movie progresses in a series of flashbacks that accompany Cynthia's testimony. Bruce Willis plays James Urbanski, the violent, drug-addict husband of Cynthia's friend Joyce (Glenne Headly) who is murdered one fateful evening at a nearby Feast of San Gennarro festival. Lots of Jersey Italian-style yelling and screaming goes on in the aftermath, with goodfella Frank Vincent in the cast, along with Karen Shallo, Crystal Field, and John Pankow as Cynthia's sullen real estate agent husband. There's also betrayals, threats, and a twist ending. Director Alan Rudolph captures the local New Jersey flavor beautifully and imbues the proceedings with depth via rich photography and use of slow motion and quick cuts. Willis is particulalry good, in a disturbing sort of way, in this, his first collaboration with future ex-wife Moore.