COST OF LIVING (director: Stan Schofield; screenwriter: Ed Schmidt/Steve Schmidt; cinematographer: Larry Fong; cast: Edie Falco (Billie), James Villemaire (Ben), Andrew Lowery (Ted), Bill Sage (Converse), Gareth Williams (Dean), Caitlin Clarke (Annie), Amy Horne (Kerry), Steve Beach (Danny), 1997)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Cost of Living is a modern noir film that does not use the familiar plot devices of that genre as it usually is used, instead devoting the entire film to studying one character and her reactions to being on the run. Her name is Billie (Falco). She is a loner, scam artist, drifter, taciturn, independent woman, who is dressed biker-style. It is the type of role usually played by a man. The film might be about trying to find oneself, or about why you are going to a fishing village if you're not interested in fishing. The most profound line said by anyone in the film is said by Edie Falco: "Things are not always what they seem- Ben!"
We learn whatever it is that we are going to learn about her through her actions. She dumps her motorcycle over a cliff into the water. Meets a guy who says he knows her from a Texas town, who claims they met when it was hailing. She tells him that he's mistaken. Somehow she gets a car (probably steals it) and through working a scam gets a fake auto license. She then checks into a motel and stashes four thousand dollars under the rug. Her main antagonist is a scruffy fisherman, Ben (Villemaire), who has a foul-mouth and treats women like dirt. He smashes into her with his pickup truck and ends up having sex with her, tieing her to the steering wheel of her car, where she remains all night. They form a love-hate relationship.
When she returns to her motel room, the money's gone. She blames Ben. Goes to a diner, eats like a horse and befriends the waitress (Caitlin Clarke) into letting her skip out without paying. There's also a lonely mechanic, a friend of Ben, named Ted, who has a crush on her, but is too awkward to ever say the things that would stir a lady's heart. A mysterious biker comes to the fishing village looking for her, aptly describing her tattoo. He says she's his wife.
The action takes place in an impoverished fishing village. The dialogue is muted. The film yearns to be a story about how impossible it is to be free in today's world and how everything one does hurts. It's different in mood and scope than the usual type of introspective film. The film hinges on Falco's performance. I didn't buy it, so I failed to find the film engrossing. She seemed to be acting too hard to look as if she was loose and free. At the end of the film, we don't know too much more about her than we did at the beginning of the film. If you are looking for possible plusses in this hip neo-noir film, it might be in the director's visualizations. At least, this indie is original and is not the usual rip off you see of late.
It should be noted it won Studio Prize for Best Feature Film in New Visions Section at the 1997 AFI/Los Angeles Film Festival. It should also be noted that I had trouble reading the opening credits. They were unclear on the video I watched. But what remained more unclear to me, was what this film was about. It was not a paricularly pleasant film to watch, and the violence in it, seemed misplaced. I had no feel for those in the film, therefore seeing the violence was much like reading a newspaper account of a tragedy occurring to strangers.
REVIEWED ON 2/23/2000 GRADE: C-
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
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