Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Synopsis: With LEAVING LAS VEGAS, director Mike Figgis spun critical gold out of what would appear to be a maudlin and hackneyed premise--a down-and-out drunk meets a hooker with a heart of gold. The reason for the film's success lies partly in its refusal to moralize, but mostly it is the strong... With LEAVING LAS VEGAS, director Mike Figgis spun critical gold out of what would appear to be a maudlin and hackneyed premise--a down-and-out drunk meets a hooker with a heart of gold. The reason for the film's success lies partly in its refusal to moralize, but mostly it is the strong performances of Nicholas Cage and Elisabeth Shue that make the story believable and poignant. Ben Sanderson (Cage) is a Hollywood screenwriter who has become an alcoholic. After being fired, he takes his severance pay to Las Vegas, where he plans to drink himself to death. There he meets Sera (Shue), a streetwise prostitute who responds both to Ben's wild antics and to his absolute gentleness. What Sera needs most is to be needed, and Ben needs her a lot. Figgis uses his whole bag of tricks--Sera talks to the camera, the exteriors are shot in grainy 16mm--but finally it is the perfectly-conceived relationship between these two wounded people that drew the rave reviews. The film was based on a novel by John O'Brien. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Julian Sands, Richard Lewis, David Brisbin
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Reviews
The film pulls no punches, takes no prisoners and flies in the face of feel-good pictures.
It's a relief when so dark a film refuses to preach, trusting the viewer to draw his own conclusions about the roots of America's self-destructive funk.
The plot goes nowhere, but under the pornographic circumstances Figgis, Cage, and Shue all do fine jobs.
An obviously safe, bland, overly pretentious reading of an ancient story, complete with the stock "hooker with a heart of gold" character.
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