There wasn't a single scene I would change in this masterpiece by one of America's finest directors.
Watching Nicolas Cage deteriorate in "Leaving Las Vegas", I thought he was a better actor than he was allowed to be by the script he was given. Watching him go crazy in this film convinces me of how good he really can be.
There are some intensely disturbing scenes in this film -- not the usual blood and gore kind of disturbing scenes so popular with the kiddies, but scenes of the dark side of NYC street life that are all too real. The cinematography, directing and editing of these scenes are masterful. Counterpoint to all this is found in the tenderness and humour woven seamlessly into the fabric of the plot.
Arquette: "What's wrong with the doctor in there (emergency)? He keeps mumbling and poking his eye when he talks to me." Cage (great deadpan, brief pause, and says, as if it should be obvious): "He's working a double shift." Calmly, like talking to someone who clearly should see how all this is normal and to be expected. Hilarious.
Cage, in ambulance with IV line, O2 mask, seeing his partner staring at him, only then aware of how he might appear: "These are hard times, Tom." Had to laugh out loud.
This is a great piece of work that entertained me by involving me in the characters and the story line, disturbed me by the content and travails of the people I saw, and uplifted me ever so gently, not by speechifying but by stubborn nuances of human compassion in the midst of, well, hell.
This film is a 10 out of 10, and should earn Scorcese the Oscar for Best Director that he has long deserved. I'll see it a few more times.
Watching Nicolas Cage deteriorate in "Leaving Las Vegas", I thought he was a better actor than he was allowed to be by the script he was given. Watching him go crazy in this film convinces me of how good he really can be.
There are some intensely disturbing scenes in this film -- not the usual blood and gore kind of disturbing scenes so popular with the kiddies, but scenes of the dark side of NYC street life that are all too real. The cinematography, directing and editing of these scenes are masterful. Counterpoint to all this is found in the tenderness and humour woven seamlessly into the fabric of the plot.
Arquette: "What's wrong with the doctor in there (emergency)? He keeps mumbling and poking his eye when he talks to me." Cage (great deadpan, brief pause, and says, as if it should be obvious): "He's working a double shift." Calmly, like talking to someone who clearly should see how all this is normal and to be expected. Hilarious.
Cage, in ambulance with IV line, O2 mask, seeing his partner staring at him, only then aware of how he might appear: "These are hard times, Tom." Had to laugh out loud.
This is a great piece of work that entertained me by involving me in the characters and the story line, disturbed me by the content and travails of the people I saw, and uplifted me ever so gently, not by speechifying but by stubborn nuances of human compassion in the midst of, well, hell.
This film is a 10 out of 10, and should earn Scorcese the Oscar for Best Director that he has long deserved. I'll see it a few more times.