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Cannot say enough good things about this utterly fantastic film.
Everyone remembers Nolte's mugshot - pretty hard to dismiss. The man looked like warmed over dog poo capped with an Einstein bad hair day.
But what everyone forgot, well almost everyone 'cept maybe Director Neil Jordan, was that Nolte is one hellacious actor; perhaps one of best his ever generation ever produced. Unfortunately that mugshot and his crazed anti-aging health kick took center stage in the man's career and, for the most part, he's been on the outside looking in ever since.
Well, the man may have indeed lost his mind, but he definitely didn't lose his talent. And one could argue - that's the definition of genius.
In this very Mamet-like flick he plays an expatriate junkie thief diddling away his life gambling, shooting H, and generally trying to stub out the coal of his existence. Until he unexpectedly meets a young woman, Anne, a lost soul in amongst an ocean of lost souls - himself included. But this one he saves from the sewer pit of sexual abuse, drug addiction and damnation. It wasn't intended as a life changer, but it turns out to be anyway. Suddenly, his slow downward path skews off in a different direction. Whether that's a good thing or not is what this film is about.
And once again, my favorite European actor, Tchéky Karyo hit his role with laser precision as the good cop and ersatz friend to Nolte's character Robert 'Bob' Montagnet. A perilous friendship based on professional and mutual respect; he's captured the silver-tongued pinch several times. But despite his thieving, each time the hardened officer sees within him the spark of goodness, so he tries his best to keep Bob from going back to prison. Not necessarily on the straight-and-narrow, just off the dark trail that leads back to the iron hole. After six stints in the cage, he knows that his thief buddy will not survive another conviction.
Unfortunately, he's gotten word that his friend might be attempting another high profile heist. And he's determined, friend or not, he won't allow that to happen. And if it costs Bob his life, then that's the price for gambling.
Filled with hilarious offbeat and wonderful characters; this indie tears apart and craps on the slick "Clooney/Ocean's" franchise with an energy that Hollywood, with their preprocessed Powerpoint charts and doughnut-fed focus groups, will never be able to capture.
Personal notes:
- Nütsa Kukhianidze in this role and particular make-up is STUNNING. I've rarely seen a beauty like her. Enchanting would kiss her backside in groveling respect. Beauty would be her ugly best friend. I'm stunned that a French production actually used an age-appropriate actress for this important role. Too often the crow-feets squirm their way in and ruin the potency of too many a film. Just my two pennies in this regard.
- Ralph Fiennes does the dual-edged gentleman scum so well, I suspect I take it for granted. The man is brilliant - again. And interestingly took no credit in the production. Certainly not because of shame, because this was a genuinely fantastic movie. Perhaps because he was only briefly on film, as little as a couple of minutes. But it was an extremely vivid one-hundred-twenty seconds. Interestingly, it's very similar to his 'In Bruges' performance.
- And finally I want to give props to Saîd Taghmaoui. He's one of those truly amazing character actors who seem to be descended from the chameleon family; deftly changing his acting appearance at a whim. There doesn't seem to be anything he can't do. Seen him do terrorist, businessman, murderer, goofy techno-geek, comical sidekick, and so many others. Love him in everything! The man needs more work period.
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- Brendan Ray CyrusReviewed in the United Kingdom on December 31, 2008
Endlessly watchable Neil Jordan movie
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