{"id":13952,"date":"2016-07-25T02:33:40","date_gmt":"2016-07-25T06:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=13952"},"modified":"2016-07-25T02:36:34","modified_gmt":"2016-07-25T06:36:34","slug":"br-romeo-is-bleeding-1993","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=13952","title":{"rendered":"BR: Romeo is Bleeding (1993)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RomeoIsBleeding1993_BR\"Film<\/strong>:\u00a0Very Good<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>:\u00a0Good<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Twilight Time<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0All<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0June 14, 2016<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Neo-Nor \/ Suspense<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0A crooked cop’s sweet and very profitable association with a mob boss is shattered when he meets his match in the form of a relentless, ultra-sexy Russian hitwoman.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>Isolated Stereo Music Track (with some Sound Effects) \/ Theatrical Trailer \/ 8-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 3000 copies \/ Available exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a> and www.twilighttimemovies.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Premiere magazine<\/a> was in its finest form, printing a balance of ephemera, history, current interviews, portraits, and exposes, they also did an occasional tally of the \u201910 best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood,\u2019 updating the status of each as to whether a work had just been greenlit, went into turnaround, or bounced again to another studio \/ producer \/ director \/ egotistical star, and I remember Hilary Henkin\u2019s Romeo is Bleeding<\/strong> being part of a round-up.<\/p>\n

Henkin\u2019s script was likely hard to peg and pitch, being a neo-noir, black comedy, and absurdist thriller, and however Peter Medak came to be attached as director, he was perhaps among a few filmmakers skilled in finding that weird balance among a dark script\u2019s elements, much in the way Martin Scorsese made After Hours<\/strong> (1985) a perfect cult film, with its hero trapped in a prolonged series of misadventures during what seemed like the longest night of his life.<\/p>\n

Medak\u2019s career really took a leap when he directed the stark black comedy The Ruling Class<\/a><\/strong> (1972) in which jealous family members attempt to gain control of an estate when its sole beneficiary things he is literally Jesus Christ; and he proved a special adeptness with horror when he directed the CanCon ghost story classique The Changeling<\/strong> (1980).<\/p>\n

He bounced back & forth between episodic TV and the odd feature film, and if the aforementioned films were any indication, Medak\u2019s career peaks tended to occur every ten years, hence the double-hitter of what may be two of the finest British crime films of the 1990s: the vicious true crime drama The Krays<\/strong> (1990) with its bursts of shocking sadism, and the powerful anti-capital punishment true crime bio-drama Let Him Have It<\/strong> (1991).<\/p>\n

Medak accepted an episode of HBO\u2019s Tales from the Crypt<\/strong> (\u201cHollywood Nightmare) before Romeo<\/strong>, after which came episodes of Kindred: The Embraced<\/strong> (1996) and Homicide: Life on the Streets<\/strong> (1994-1998), collectively forming the best of his 1990s work before the debacle of Species II<\/strong> (1998) and a peppering of TV work. Medak\u2019s skill lay in realizing the unfilmable, the narratively challenging, the pitch black comedy, and for fans it was disappointing to see him become a kind of journeyman hired gun on shows like 7th<\/sup> Heaven<\/strong> (2004), South Beach<\/strong> (2006), and maybe even Breaking Bad<\/strong> (2009); it also didn’t help that his episode \u201cThe Washingtonians<\/a>\u201d was among the worst in the largely unsatisfying Masters of Horror<\/strong> series.<\/p>\n

Film is where Medak had the freedom to bend genres and play with time and structure lay, and Romeo<\/strong> represents his last great work, and a small gem that failed to impress critics and draw much of a box office draw like other neo-noirs of the era, including Black Widow<\/a><\/strong> (1987),\u00a0After Dark My Sweet<\/strong> (1990), The Hot Spot<\/strong> (1990),\u00a0The Underneath <\/strong>(1995), and 2 Days in the Valley<\/strong> (1996).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a perfect film, but it\u2019s pedigree was premium, and everyone managed to add just the right shade of light and shadow in this mordant tale of a cop on the take who accepts one dangerous job too many, and loses everything.<\/p>\n

Henkin\u2019s script is bookended by disgraced cop Jack Grimaldi (Gary Oldman), opening up in a dusty, desert bar for business, and as he peels through\u00a0a photo album, his self-effacing inner voice narrates the events that drove him to an armpit in the desert where he\u2019s tormented by memories.<\/p>\n

For its first third if not first half, Romeo<\/strong> is a perfect black comedy: Grimaldi takes envelopes of cash from Sal (Michael Wincott) so mob boss Don Falcone (Roy Scheider) can send ruthless Russian assassin Mona Demarkov (Lena Olin, still hot from The Unbearable Lightness of Being<\/strong>) to wipe out government witnesses or whomever could threaten his crime empire. When Mona kills a mass of cops in addition to protected witness Nick Gazzara (uncredited Dennis Farina) and is caught by the police, Falcone expects Grimaldi to set up Mona\u2019s demise\u2026 except she escapes\u2026 and threatens to expose crooked cops, mob enforcers and bigwigs, and the inept cop who let her go the first time, Martie (Will Patton).<\/p>\n

Grimaldi\u2019s given one chance to kill Mona, and her second escape ranks as one of the\u00a0 film\u2019s most eccentric and erotic moments as the handcuffed killer uses legs, heels, thighs, and incredible agility to strangle her driver, crash the car, and escape with both the money promised to Grimaldi and the fake coroner\u2019s report for her staged death.<\/p>\n

Larded between these antics is Grimaldi cheating on long-suffering wife Natalie (Annabella Sciorra), his affair with not-so-bright but earnest waitress Sheri (Juliette Lewis), and something Grimaldi calls \u2018the hole\u2019: a physical trap door hiding spot in his backyard where he packs in envelope after envelope of cash, and a metaphor for his insatiable greed for money. Cash is what ultimately destroys his life, and the portent of his doom lies within view of his backyard \u2013 a massive, sprawling cemetery below.<\/p>\n

Although shot in NYC, Medak initially avoids direct references until the finale, perhaps to contextualize Grimaldi\u2019s status in being a fringe detective rather than a man of genuine stature and importance outside of his precinct. Oldman is the anchor that keeps the film from tipping into full lunacy by playing Grimaldi straight: he\u2019s a sex addict, a money addict, an addict of dancing around danger, an overconfident fool drunk on a sense of invincibility from years of fat cash payments, a serial womanizer who believes gold trinkets like a charm bracelet will keep the wife happy and dumb, and a peeping tom who\u2019s as crude as his team of subordinates.<\/p>\n

When Grimaldi falls, it\u2019s his own damn fault for wanting to feed that hiding hole in the backyard and the whims of his prick, but Oldman makes sure the emotional trauma is real, which isn\u2019t easy when \u2018the bleeding\u2019 begins and he\u2019s tossed into increasingly weird situations. Mona is like Michael Myers, a master manipulator who plays Grimaldi gor a fool like former boss Falcone, and it\u2019s that back-and-forth interplay between Mona and Grimaldi that runs a few rounds too many, convoluting the story, prolonging its resolution, and leading to an escape for Grimaldi that doesn\u2019t quite gel, given he should\u2019ve been roasted in court and thrown into jail.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SPOILER ALERT<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, as the implausibilities and sudden encounters echo the emotional shocks of After Hours<\/strong>, Oldman keeps us watching, and Medak balances absurdity with tragedy, neatly leading to the bookend finale that offers an obvious cheat before reality closes the film (as it should).<\/p>\n

As the end credits roll, Grimaldi\u2019s fate may be staid and safe, but emotionally he\u2019s as tormented as a classic noir anti-hero, except in Henkin\u2019s script he doesn\u2019t die, get shot by the dame, go to jail, or get executed: he just lives with the guilt and rots in the dry desert. For all intents and purposes, he\u2019s been dropped onto an island with enough food and water and shelter until he cracks, checks out voluntarily, or fate gives him a break.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

END OF SPOILER<\/p>\n

For present day film fans, the cast is loaded with a crazy array of character actors, and part of the small parts may stem from casting director Bonnie Timmermann, with whom Medak worked on a 1986 episode of Crime Story<\/strong> called \u201cGround Zero.\u201d (That surreal, darkly funny episode ranks as one of the best season finales in TV.)<\/p>\n

Timmermann\u2019s influential casting choices drew from\u00a0Crime Story<\/strong>\u00a0(Farina, Paul Butler) and Miami Vice<\/strong> actors (Farina again, Larry Joshua), and other small credited & uncredited roles went to James Cromwell, Ron Perlman, and Stephen Tobolwsky). Also in the cast in jazz crooner Julia Migenes as barmaid Lorraine, who also had an unbilled part in Medak\u2019s The Krays<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Walter Murch \u00a0edited the film and crafted the absolutely superb sound design for what’s really a straight stereo mix. Mark Isham\u2019s score is one of his best: it’s a perfect blend of jazz combo with electronics, with Isham performing the muted trumpet solos that give the film its slick, neo-noir veneer. Dariusz Wolski\u2019s cinematography is gorgeous, milking deep earthy colours from the sets and d\u00e9cor that evoke a 40s noir thriller (especially the hotel room where Mona and Grimaldi have their tussles).<\/p>\n

Oldman would glide straight into two of his best roles of the early 1990s \u2013 Drexl in True Romance<\/strong> (1993) and the pill-popping, neck-cracking crooked cop in Luc Besson\u2019s Leon: The Professional<\/strong> (1994) \u2013 whereas Juliette Lewis would further her brand of a southern-twanged eccentric in Natural Born Killers<\/strong> (1994).<\/p>\n

Screenwriter Henkin\u2019s best known work includes the ill-fated Fatal Beauty<\/strong> (1987), the goofball cult hit Road House<\/strong> (1989), and the dryly satirical Wag the Dog<\/strong> (1997). Henkin also scripted\u00a0Prisoners<\/strong> (1981), the still- unreleased Tatum O\u2019Neal drama directed by Peter Werner (No Man\u2019s Land<\/a><\/strong>).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2016 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a>\u00a0— Composer Filmography<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Premiere magazine was in its finest form, printing a balance of ephemera, history, current interviews, portraits, and exposes, they also did an occasional tally of the \u201910 best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood,\u2019 updating the status of each as to whether a work had just been greenlit, went into turnaround…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[4550,4549,4546,4551,4548,448,4547,4552],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-3D2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13952"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13952"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13973,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13952\/revisions\/13973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}