wtf is this?
Went ahead and saw Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans as planned at scenic Cinestudio with some film enthusiast company. We were... stultified. I have never said that word out loud before, but thefreedictionary.com tells me it means exactly what I think it means. So I'm pretty excited about my taste in words and movies at the moment.
Putting aside the completely arbitrary relationship between this film and the original Bad Lieutenant, this new one is so bizarre, awkwardly paced and shot, and with a plot and outcome that seem to offer no moral or lesson, or even anything at stake in the way of emotional involvement for the viewer... And yet it is simultaneously glorious - so over-the-top ridiculous at the, uh, multiple climaxes of Nic Cage's crazyeyed portrayal of drug-fueled cop corruption, and strange "artistic" digressions involving iguanas and other reptiles, which you may have read about in reviews, but which will nevertheless surprise (even stultify) you. Between the stylistic strangeness and the gratuitous on-screen drug consumption, we left feeling a little flash back-y. That's impressive. Of course, it's probably different for chemical virgin viewers. Oh well.
I don't want to give everything away. I've said it before, I don't like spoilers, even late ones. Just know that this movie is a strange trip you want to see through. There's some very clunky bits, but the freakshow and trainwreck appeal win out in the end, as the insanity quotient pretty much cranks exponentially in the second half. Sadly, two nights at Cinestudio seem to have been it for BL:POCNO in our area, so I don't know when or where you'll see this, but I'm giving it two snaps up, a twist and a kiss.
Putting aside the completely arbitrary relationship between this film and the original Bad Lieutenant, this new one is so bizarre, awkwardly paced and shot, and with a plot and outcome that seem to offer no moral or lesson, or even anything at stake in the way of emotional involvement for the viewer... And yet it is simultaneously glorious - so over-the-top ridiculous at the, uh, multiple climaxes of Nic Cage's crazyeyed portrayal of drug-fueled cop corruption, and strange "artistic" digressions involving iguanas and other reptiles, which you may have read about in reviews, but which will nevertheless surprise (even stultify) you. Between the stylistic strangeness and the gratuitous on-screen drug consumption, we left feeling a little flash back-y. That's impressive. Of course, it's probably different for chemical virgin viewers. Oh well.
I don't want to give everything away. I've said it before, I don't like spoilers, even late ones. Just know that this movie is a strange trip you want to see through. There's some very clunky bits, but the freakshow and trainwreck appeal win out in the end, as the insanity quotient pretty much cranks exponentially in the second half. Sadly, two nights at Cinestudio seem to have been it for BL:POCNO in our area, so I don't know when or where you'll see this, but I'm giving it two snaps up, a twist and a kiss.
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