SOMEBODY TO LOVE
A film review by Peer Wandel Hansen
Copyright 1995 Peer Wandel Hansen
Rating (0-10) 7.5
Directed by Alexandre Rockwell
Written by Sergei Bodrov, Alexandre Rockwell
Cast Rosie Perez, Harvey Keitel, Anthony Quinn,
Michael DeLorenzo, Steve Buscemi, Quentin Tarantino,
Samuel Fuller, Steven Randazzo, Stanley Tucci, Gerardo
Cinematography Robert D. Yeoman
Music by Tito Larriva, Charlie Midnight
Produced by Lila Cazes
Running Time 100 minutes
This is a charming movie about the young actress Mercedes (Rosie Perez) making a living as a "taxi-dancer" (dancing with the customers for money) in Nick's (Steven Randazzo) Dance Club. At the same time she is desperately fighting for just a little part in a Hollywood production, that will get her recognized and eventually famous.
Her lover is the former TV-star Harry Harrelson (Harvey Keitel) but he doesn't support her all that much in fulfilling her ambition. Instead she throws herself in the arms of Ernesto, a Mexican admirer she meet at Nick's Dance Club. This relationship develops into a strange love affair, where Ernesto declare his love to her by tattooing her name all across his chest. But Mercedes can not leave Harry, but he still refuses to leave his wife and see his life develop in the right direction after he has been offered to play a part in a new Tarzan movie. This is where we see the famous scene where Harvey Keitel is reciting Shakespeare, wearing only leopard-pants.
Mercedes want to get out, but need a large sum of money, so she can leave the city and fulfill her dream. Ernesto take contact to Emillio, a shady gangster (Anthony Quinn) who will give him the money but in return he must assassin one Emillio's enemies, with fatal consequences for Ernesto.
This is the second move from Alexandre Rockwells, and the captivating atmosphere found in the former IN THE SOUP (1992) has been preserved, even though the budget for this movie is somewhat larger. This is a great movie and Rosie Perez, Harvey Keitel play their parts astounding, and Quentin Tarantino has a small part playing the Bartender in one of the scenes, making one of his notorious speeches (like in SLEEP WITH ME)
- Peer Wandel Hansen Copenhagen, Denmark
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