BEFORE: From sex addiction to drug addiction - this film was originally scheduled to be part of the World Tour last year, representing Chicago, but I had to cut some films to make room for some last-minute additions. Anyway, I felt the setting of this film was less important than its theme.
THE PLOT: Strung-out junkie deals with daily demoralizing drug addiction while crippled wife and card sharks continue to pull him down.
FOLLOW-UP TO: "The Hustler" (Movie #312)
AFTER: This film centers on Frankie, a heroin addict who's just back from prison/rehab, and as he returns back to his hometown of Chicago, he tries to re-invent himself as a musician, having spent time learning to play the drums while getting clean. Which is a smart plan, because as we all know, professional musicians never have problems with drugs.
But it's a tough town full of tough characters, and once he makes contact with his old pusher, it's too easy for him to fall into his old habits. And once he makes contact with the guy who runs the illegal card game, it's easy for him to work as a card dealer again. And once he sees his old girlfriend, well, you get the idea. It does seem a bit too coincidental that his pusher's so friendly with the gambling operation, for that matter everyone seems to know everyone, but maybe that's because they've all been in the same neighborhood for so long.
The real problem here is that movies are an audio/visual medium, and it's hard to use the language of film to depict a feeling, the craving that addicts have for their addiction. This film tries valiantly to describe it verbally, but it's just not feasible - whereas last night's film just didn't even try at all. The one film that I'm aware of that really captured the essence of addiction is "Requiem for a Dream", with its close-ups of dilating pupils, swelling blood vessels, inhaled breaths - the audience could feel the rush when the craving got satisfied, even if it was in oblique terms.
Another contrivance here is the main character's wife, who appears to be crippled, but may be using her disability to keep Frankie tied to her - I guess making her too sympathetic of a character would have muddied the waters somewhat. But if she's a lying so-and-so, then our sympathies go back on to the main character, for all of the ways in which he's being manipulated. The pusher, the gamblers, the wife, this guy is really a pawn in everyone else's game, not to mention his reliance on the drugs.
But even that's a little unclear - was he using drugs to temporarily escape the no-win situations he found himself in? Or was his addiction the reason that he could never get ahead of the game? And since we only see him shooting up once or twice, and never see him blissfully zoned out, it was a little hard to tell when he was using. Were his hands trembling because he needed a fix, or because he'd just had one? Was he drumming poorly because he was high, or because of withdrawal?
The film's major turning point and the climax were also contrivances, one created a terrible situation and the other resolved it, but that was all just a little too neat. Contrivances are a poor substitute for actual character development. I listed this as a follow-up to "The Hustler" because of the way that the gambling played out - as a marathon game where the advantage changed, but it seemed much more organic and less forced in "The Hustler" than here.
There was also something kind of cartoon-like about this film, with the minimalist sets, and the overly dramatic music (everything was punctuated with orchestral stings, like a Bugs Bunny or Road Runner cartoon), and the way that the colorful Chicago underworld characters were such blatant stereotypes.
Starring Frank Sinatra (last seen making a cameo in "Around the World in Eighty Days"), Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold Stang, Darren McGavin (last seen in "Airport '77").
RATING: 4 out of 10 lost dogs
No comments:
Post a Comment