Bringing out the Dead - review

A lonely, sleepless man slowly losing his mind as he drives passengers around the dark streets of New York while falling in love with a self-destructive girl, in a movie by Martin Scorsese, screenplay by Paul Schrader. So far, it could have been Taxi Driver. However, this time, the vehicle is an ambulance, and the man is not Robert De Niro but Nicholas Cage, and it makes a world of difference.
Not that "Bringing out the Dead" is a bad movie. Scorsese is one of those directors whose bad movies still leave a big impression. The cinematography is dazzling, often psychedelic; the script is horrifying, depressing and full of what being a human being is all about; and the acting is quite good, although Cage didn't always convince me. It's the supporting cast, especially John Goodman and Ving Rhames, who impressed me. There isn't much of a story in this movie, it's more of a sequence of ambulance trips which rarely seem to do any good. This ain't no "E.R.", we're not in Kansas anymore. Instead, there is a great deal of sprituality and morality, presented in a confrontational way. It's a very raw movie, but a good one nonetheless.

Posted by cronopio at 02:19 AM, November 07, 2001 | Comments (0)