[2.5/4.0]
Cinematic storytelling often gravitates towards people in professions that are inherently dramatic and stressful. That is why there are more movies about police than about engineers. (Although in real life, police work likely contains longer periods of tedious banality than how it is portrayed on screen.) This film is about a profession that is directly connected to disaster without being directly involved--paramedics.
By definition, the job of a paramedic is frenetic and stressful. They are always handling life and death situations in the aftermath of disaster or tragedy. Any mistakes made can result in death, and lingering guilt.
Frank Pierce (Nicolas Cage) is a veteran New York paramedic on the verge of burnout. He is lacking an important quality required in his profession-- detachment. Frank gets too involved with the people he treats, and pays the price. The story begins with Frank coming to the aid of an older man, Mr. Burke (Cullen O. Johnson), who suffered a heart attack. Frank is able to revive him and take him to the overburdened local hospital, but the man lingers in a suspended state between life and death. The sympathetic Frank develops a relationship with the man's daughter, Mary Burke (Patricia Arquette), who frequently visits him.
Like the drugs that infest the neighborhood, Frank's job is the source of his highs and his misery. He wants to quit, but never manages to do so. The lingering state of suspended animation in which Mr. Burke hovers symbolically represents Frank's state of mind. Although Frank is effective at his job, he has become too involved and feels that his best option may be to euthanize his career.
Veteran director Martin Scorcese presents dazzling visual images of the surreal netherworld of the afterhours in New York City. The high speed views of the ambulance coursing through the congested streets of the city are mesmerizing. However, in terms of structuring the story, the film is not as successful. The subplot of Noel (Marc Anthony), a confused and unstable young man, is muddled and almost superfluous. The character of Frank is well developed and well acted, but outside him and his colorful partners, the other characters are not compelling.
Recommended. The film is well directed, but unfocused. It dwells upon its basic themes, and reiterates its ideas.
(c) 1999 Murali Krishnan The Art House Squatter http://ArtHouseSquatter.com
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews