1995

Director: Mike Figgis

Genre: Drama, Romance

There are many movies that can make people sad. Sadness is not extremely difficult to replicate, in terms of the general audience at least. Throw some somber music over a person dying. Have a loud dramatic scene turn soft. Why not add a character with disabilities or some connection to the holocaust for some oscar bait?

But it’s a very different thing for a movie to make someone feel empty.

I don’t mean this in a bad way. When I seek out movie that are meant to be horrific and depressing, I want to get the full experience. I don’t want to just feel a little sad. I want to step outside of my home and just stare at the world for a moment because I feel empty.

You may ask why I’d want to feel something like this. Part of it is because I enjoy getting fully invested in the themes and ideals of any movie I watch. Another part of it is myself, and because I think its a good thing to experience negative emotions vicariously. We all need context for our own emotions.

This movie isn’t all just misery and emptiness though. It shows how messed up people are just people underneath. Everyone wants to connect with someone. Even if he wants to die or she knows that her life is hopeless.

This story, of a suicidal alcoholic that falls in love with a Las Vegas prostitute, is very simple. Nothing about the characters changes. But they do truly fall in love.

I think this portrays a very interesting perspective. Unlike so many other movies, love does not save the day here. Not to say that love is not an amazing and life-changing experience, but sometimes people are so lost that they can never recover. I’ll willingly spoil this for you: this movie doesn’t have a happy ending.

So, what’s the point in watching a movie like this?

That’s what some people say. But what’s the point in anything then? Why fall in love if it could end in tragedy? Why have children? Why get a job? Why wake up?

We don’t live our lives to just experience happiness or exhilaration. We should work on all our emotions, or else we could lose ourselves in simplicity. Just like this movie. It’s not just sad. It’s much more.

Now that I’ve said all that, I will give some criticism. I don’t like the music. It didn’t seem like it was well placed or composed to fit any of the scenes. It took me out of several emotional moments and was too basic to evoke any deeper emotions for me.

But the performances are more than enough to carry this movie. And the portrayal of alcoholism and prostitution seems very authentic in a very unsettling way.

I did have an interesting thought though. It’s that no matter how great Nicolas Cage was in this, I still felt like I was watching a good performance, as opposed to watching a character. I wonder if that’s just a thing I have with popular actors. I’m curious if this movie was made with unknowns if I would have had a different emotional experience.

Regardless, this is very much a movie worth seeing. And if you’re like me and you often dislike how alcoholism is portrayed in film, then this movie will not disappoint.

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