When one watches as many films as I appear to do, it is no wonder that a good percentage of them are oddities -- and of course it is more fun to write about these than about the popular and widely-reviewed blockbusters. This movie is far from an easy watch, but it is fascinating in its own way. Written by David Mamet, based on his stageplay of the same name, and sensitively directed by Stuart Gordon whom I would normally associate with superior horror movies, William H Macy stars as the dogsbody employee and husband who has finally reached his breaking point. Macy whose association with Mamet goes back to "Oleanna" in 1984, is a fine actor but in the "hangdog" stakes, he is right up there with Stephen Rea and the late Michael Jeter.
Having walked out on his wife, he goes into a bar where he chats with another Mamet regular, Joe Mantegna, who more or less suggests that he needs some good sex to put him right. There follows a series of exceedingly brief and non-consummated meetings with sex workers Denise Richards, Bai Ling, and Mena Suvari. As the evening progresses, things go from bad to worse as he is mugged, beaten, and robbed, before meeting up with bar waitress Julia Stiles. Without giving too much away, what could have been a fruitful encounter dissolves into senseless rage and tragedy. Macy ends up in prison and mortally alone as his talky optimism proves false; yet he finds a surprising and totally unexpected fulfillment which is meant to shock (and does). It's a brave performance, but as mentioned above not an easy one with which to empathise.
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1 comment:
Mena Suvari is obviously now typecast as a child-sized whore and not a very
convincing one at that. While the despair of his existence is well portrayed by
Macey, his continual questioning of the monetary cost of sinning does jar and I
thought it very unlikely that Julia Stiles would take him to bed after what was a
brief encounter. Perhaps Mamet was thinking of the theory that men should ask
every woman they meet for sex on the grounds that sooner or later one will
say yes.
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