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Leaving Las Vegas
Leaving Las Vegas. A film about an unredeemable alcoholic, and a prostitute who only wants a companion in life. Sponsors of “late night film” on Film4? Jamesons Whiskey. Followed by no less than three alcohol adverts in the first break (including that fantastic Southern Comfort one). This is completely ironic. It's also completely harrowing then watching the film itself, knowing that Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage) likely succumbed to the booze much quicker as a result of advertisements not dissimilar to those featuring the man in the red beach shorts.
I came here to drink myself to death.
Ben Sanderson is an alcoholic screenwriter who, after being made redundant from his job at a production company, decides to take what money he has and move to Las Vegas on a whim. There, he meets Sera (Elisabeth Shue), an optimistic prostitute with a crippling sense of loneliness, and they move in together hoping that both their lives will improve from this point in.
However, this is reality, and in reality, nothing much changes for the insignificant prostitute, or the insignificant alcoholic. The world moves on just fine without them. But, we are given an incredibly deep viewing into their lives together, and how they both cope with their issues. And how glad that makes me. For this is a terrific film, led impeccably by permanently frazzled Nicolas Cage, and the moral centre of the film, Elisabeth Shue.
The chemistry between the two leads is terrific, and it makes the film completely work as a character study. They play off each other so well, especially Shue, who doesn't get half the credit she deserves for her role in this. Cage pulls off a blinder of a performance. Spending an entire film acting out a drunk man may not seem like much of a challenge, but it's hard to make the performance believable, and Nicolas Cage does just that.
Thematically, the film explores addiction, loneliness, and dependence in an excellent way. The scenes where Sera appears to be talking to a therapist illustrate her isolation from the rest of the world, and also show us the differences in character between her and Ben, how she has opinions, feelings even. And he just wants to get drunk. No thoughts, no real feelings. Just the impulsive and stupid actions of a very sick man.
Sera is portrayed throughout as a capable individual, not without her own vulnerabilities which are amplified by her job situation. But this film tells us that we should not be defined by our job title, but by what we are like as people. Two concurrent scenes, both with taxi drivers, show this perfectly. While one taxi driver is impatient, makes prior assumptions about Sara based on her appearance, and questions her ability to pay the fare, the other is more sympathetic, asking Sera about her facial appearance (as a result of a particularly brutal scene shown not long before). I see these scenes as one metaphor for Sera herself, that despite her job as a prostitute, she is not an immoral person. The exact opposite in fact.
Ben Sanderson says early on in the film that he doesn't know whether he started drinking as a result of his wife leaving him, or whether his wife left him because he started drinking. And it's this uncertainty and ignorance of the past that drives the characters. An unknown place in the world. A masterpiece of a film.
Leaving Las Vegas. A film about an unredeemable alcoholic, and a prostitute who only wants a companion in life. Sponsors of “late night film” on Film4? Jamesons Whiskey. Followed by no less than three alcohol adverts in the first break (including that fantastic Southern Comfort one). This is completely ironic. It's also completely harrowing then watching the film itself, knowing that Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage) likely succumbed to the booze much quicker as a result of advertisements not dissimilar to those featuring the man in the red beach shorts.
I came here to drink myself to death.
Ben Sanderson is an alcoholic screenwriter who, after being made redundant from his job at a production company, decides to take what money he has and move to Las Vegas on a whim. There, he meets Sera (Elisabeth Shue), an optimistic prostitute with a crippling sense of loneliness, and they move in together hoping that both their lives will improve from this point in.
However, this is reality, and in reality, nothing much changes for the insignificant prostitute, or the insignificant alcoholic. The world moves on just fine without them. But, we are given an incredibly deep viewing into their lives together, and how they both cope with their issues. And how glad that makes me. For this is a terrific film, led impeccably by permanently frazzled Nicolas Cage, and the moral centre of the film, Elisabeth Shue.
The chemistry between the two leads is terrific, and it makes the film completely work as a character study. They play off each other so well, especially Shue, who doesn't get half the credit she deserves for her role in this. Cage pulls off a blinder of a performance. Spending an entire film acting out a drunk man may not seem like much of a challenge, but it's hard to make the performance believable, and Nicolas Cage does just that.
Thematically, the film explores addiction, loneliness, and dependence in an excellent way. The scenes where Sera appears to be talking to a therapist illustrate her isolation from the rest of the world, and also show us the differences in character between her and Ben, how she has opinions, feelings even. And he just wants to get drunk. No thoughts, no real feelings. Just the impulsive and stupid actions of a very sick man.
Sera is portrayed throughout as a capable individual, not without her own vulnerabilities which are amplified by her job situation. But this film tells us that we should not be defined by our job title, but by what we are like as people. Two concurrent scenes, both with taxi drivers, show this perfectly. While one taxi driver is impatient, makes prior assumptions about Sara based on her appearance, and questions her ability to pay the fare, the other is more sympathetic, asking Sera about her facial appearance (as a result of a particularly brutal scene shown not long before). I see these scenes as one metaphor for Sera herself, that despite her job as a prostitute, she is not an immoral person. The exact opposite in fact.
Ben Sanderson says early on in the film that he doesn't know whether he started drinking as a result of his wife leaving him, or whether his wife left him because he started drinking. And it's this uncertainty and ignorance of the past that drives the characters. An unknown place in the world. A masterpiece of a film.