Hey folks... Harry here with the first look on Martin Scorsese's next film BRINGING OUT THE DEAD. As far as I know this was the first screening. Now before you read this review (if you choose to) let me warn you... This is not the final film. The movie isn't scheduled to be released till October 22nd. This review states the film was 'pretty good' but apparently had some pacing problems, some of the shots felt too long... it just didn't snap. WELL, THAT'S BECAUSE THIS ISN'T THE FINISHED FILM. It had a temp track, some of the scenes were yet to be finished, and well... Scorsese has 4 months to tinker with this film to get it to snap. So the minor sorts of problems that lay between a pretty good film and a really good film and ultimated a pretty great film are not that many... and... I have to trust Scorsese to figure those out. So before reading H Buckram Sartoris' review also realize that there are some spoilers below... Read at your own risk!
Here's H Buckram Sartoris' review...
Tonite(thursday) in NYC I got in to see a screening of the new film by Martin Scorsese. It is called Bringing Out the Dead. I believe it was one of the first showinsg as the director was there with his producers and his editor Thelma Schoonmaker.
The film is based on the novel of the same name by Joe Connoly and the script was written by Paul Schrader. As you know Schrader and Scorsese teamed up previously on the classic and still amazing Taxi Driver. This review will contain spoilers so be forewarned.
As I consider this director to be one of the greatest of all time, the anticipation level was through the roof. Unfortunately while the film was pretty good, I would have to consider it a minor work in a major body. The colloboration between this director and screenwriter makes the film feel as if it is territory already explored. Taxi Driver as EMS worker?
The main character is an EMS tech named Frank Prince, played by Nicolas Cage. The guy is stressed out and bodering on psychotic. He is just about at the end of his rope.(Sound familiar?). He sees and hears the spirits of the people he has saved and the ones that have died. The story takes place over a 3 day period in which he rides around the city with 3 different techs. They are played by John Goodman, Ving Rhames and Tom Sizemore. These 3 are representative of 3 different types and stages of mankind. Goodman as the everyman, Rhames as the angel and Sizemore as the devil. Patricia Arquette plays a woman whose father Cage has treated and is now in a coma. Cage falls for her, first feeling sympathy and then peeling back some layers to find that she hAs plenty of demons of her own.
As with any Scorsese movie, there are plenty of religious and spiritual questions and overtones. Much of the film uses Cage's character in voiceovers(sounding even more familiar). In comparison to Taxi Driver though, this film lacks the intensity that film had. Much of the film meanders along with long shots of Cage contemplating his situation. Often that is the problem when bringing a very descriptive novel to the big screen. I have a real problem with Cage being cast at all. He plays the character almost exactly the way he played in Leaving Las Vegas. The difference being the character in LLV had some "flair". I think a different actor would have brought something fresh to this role.
There are some great moments though. The scenes that Rhames has are fantastic. He brings a much needed life to the film and reminds the audience why he is one of the truly amazing actors working today. I believe he will be getting a Best Supporting Actor nod for this role. There is a scene in a club where a punk/goth? kid named I B Buggin, played by the son of Paul Simon, has overdosed on a bad strain of heroin going around. Rhames, at first, tells everyone the kid died.Upon being told that he is still alive, the character hilariously gets the unknowing kids to form a circle and join hands and pray to Jesus to save the kid. The audience seeing the film erupted in applause it was that good.
There are other moments in the film which standout. A scene at a drug den called the oasis and a shot of a guy impaled on a railing come to mind. In the latter scene, the guy is talking to Cage as police are blowtorching the railing to free him. The film was not completely finished in this part There is an angle though where the guy is talking. The camera is on him overlooking the manhattan skyline as the sparks from the blowtorching are shooting up. It should look great when the film comes out. There are amazing camera shots throughout. Sped up scenes where the workers are in the ambulence and it is driving around manhattan are wonderful. The music is fantastic with a great Van Morrison/Them? song earmarked thoughout as well as great tunes by the clash, rolling stones and others. But this is to be expected in a Scorsese film.
I just felt that as a whole the film is somewhat listless. It does not seem to go anywhere or say much of anything. The ending was anti-climactic and left me empty. While I enjoyed parts of it, this should have been better.
Maybe Scorsese will do better on his next picture which I found out will be Gangs of New York a script he wrote with the former Newsweek critic Jay Cocks. You may remember they colloborated on the very underappreciated but still incredible film, The King of Comedy!
H Buckram Sartoris
