ROMEO IS BLEEDING
A film review by Lons Ponschock
Copyright 1995 Lons Ponschock
A film by Peter Medeak Written by Hilary Henkin Music by Mark Isham Stars Gary Oldman, Lena Olin, Annabella Sciorra, Juliette Lewis
"He fed the hole and
he made the hole happy."
-- from the film --
This film is about women and guns.
It is also about Jack. Jack played by Gary Oldman (DRACULA, SID AND NANCY, JFK and many more fine performances) is a dirty cop. Jack is a cop with dreams: dreams of money, power and women.
In an erotic thriller, the people talk like we wished we talked, like we wish a conversation out of thin air could happen--but never does. This does not mean that ROMEO IS BLEEDING is a bad film. Peter Medak (THE RULING CLASS, A DAY IN THE DEATH OF JOE EGG, THE SNOW QUEEN and an extensive list of other credits) has crafted one of the new film noir pieces: not a black comedy, but more of a feeling of low lifes.
I have commented on the work of Mark Isham in film scores before. Here, I'm afraid the Mark Isham style has become ubiquitous, over used, and quite frankly--distracting. While a sample of the Isham technique in a film like TROUBLE IN MIND, a technique which uses trumpet solos to set mood or the cool jazz knockoffs created for a picture like QUIZ SHOW are interesting, these devices do not require endless repetition. So here in ROMEO IS BLEEDING, Mr. Isham's work is *all* low key with not much relief.
It's a strange story, ROMEO is. It takes you through turns which are unexpected and provides just enough action and kink to keep you watching: take for instance the "with, or without" scene. You'll know it when you see it.
Written and produced by Hilary Henkin, here is another example of women as artists in the film world and what they do there.
The story concerns Jack as a cop on the take and his involvement with the mob, money and ... Mona (Lena Olin.) As trite as this may sound and in comparison to what Quentin Tarantino (PULP FICTION) is doing, Peter Medak has given us a thriller with an edge.
It's about women and guns, like I said. Mona is sublimely evil. You see her face looking out at you on the rental box. What you *don't* see is her smile.
Lena Olin is extraordinary in ROMEO IS BLEEDING.
With all that trumpet skittering in the background, it takes a bit of effort to stay with ROMEO. But it is a picture with those sorts of arresting images that this writer watches films to see. I will leave you with this: one of those images from Medak's THE RULING CLASS which was made in the early 70's stays with me still.
Oh yeah, that bit about "the hole" up there. Well, like I said, Medak's images can be very powerful indeed.
* * * *
ROMEO IS BLEEDING is available as a video release at many outlets.
-- lon
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