Cortechba Overrated

Blaironit Excellent film with a gripping story!

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

mgtbltp Romeo Is Bleeding (1993) Leonesque New York Neo Noir"What is hell? Hell is when you should have walked, but you didn't. That's hell."Its not very often a film comes from way way out of left field and just blows me away, a film that actually holds interesting scenes knowingly long enough to allow you to drink them in. A film that lovingly caresses the essence of classic Film Noir, updates its violence conventions and very stylishly tells a tall tale that's so dangerously close to being over the top but yet is still believable enough to let it all roll. Romeo Is Bleeding is addictive-ly compelling in the same manner that Sergio Leone re-imagined Westerns are, and you have to scratch your head and wonder what kind of opiate were the critics and the viewing public mainlining on when this accidental masterpiece of a film debuted. This has happened many times before not only in cinema, but even in the long history of the Fine Art world. Films that at first are panned and forgotten that finally through the filter of time get interpreted right.A Neo Noir whose all star cast is excellent but actress Lena Olin steals every scene she is in.The narrated story revolves around the decent of NYPD Sergeant Jack "Romeo" Gramaldi into Noirsville. Jack's voice over narration while a throwback to classic noir is also unique, it's comprised of two voices, sometimes the present one the good Jim (aka repentant Jack), sometimes the bad Jack, and sometimes he listens to one head sometimes he listens to the other one.Jack looked just like anybody but inside he wasn't like anybody, he was going to do something about the dream. Jack supplies tips on the locations of safeguarded witnesses who will testify against the mob headed by Don Falcone. As Jack puts it he puts a quarter in a slot and $65,000 comes out of a PO Box. He takes the cash and feeds the drain hole he dug for it in the back yard of his Maspeth, Queens row house. Everything was going right until they started going wrong. Jack's tip on Gazzara gets both Gazzara and federal agents massacred by "Queen of Queens" rackets mob hit woman Mona Demarkov. Olin is Mona, the pieces lithe, sexy, Russian Femme Fatale and she is a smart, devious, scary-sexy one at that. She flashes her sex like a neon sign at the bottom of a dead end road. Jack looks like a deer caught in her headlights. She probably scared the hell out of a lot of conservative prepubescent boy scouts out there with her animal like sexuality in 1994. That may be the reason the film did poorly upon release, the Zeitgeist was't ready for the likes of Mona. She is feline, deadly, a fusion of Diana and Venus, and when she "presents" herself to Jack, he, and any of us out there that's got a pair of stones are goners. This film is one of the definitive depictions of the Female being deadlier than the Male. Jack is hypnotized between the allure of Mona and the money she baits him with. In the tradition of classic Noirs, its far more powerful a scene with what it doesn't show than say a similar sequence in Basic Instinct.After Demarkov is captured the second time she makes a deal with the feds to turn witness against Don Falcone. Sal asks Jack for her location Jack provides it but the info is wrong and Jack is summoned before Don Falcone who says he will make his wife ugly, burn his house down, and gut his girlfriend, and if he doesn't kill Mona he'll authorize it. On top of all this Jack fancies himself as a ladies man, a straying tomcat Romeo with women problems, both with his long suffering wife Natalie, and with dive waitress Sheri. Jack and Natalie have some poignant scenes together as their life together falls apart. Jack realizes too late that you don't own love, love owns you.Romeo Is Bleeding features a New York City festooned with graffiti, during the era of the World Trade Center. Williamsburg, Bushwick, and the JMZ elevated line in Brooklyn, Maspeth, in Queens, and lower Manhattan are all featured in the film. Sal like a chain smoking bad Bogart, tells Jack outside of Coney Island, that it (New York City) is like the Fall of Rome out there, the streets are filled with animals. Don Falcone acknowledges that he knows the barbarians are outside the gates but tells Jack that that doesn't mean we have to leave the door open.Weaved throughout the film both the sound design and the excellent mood pieces that make up Mark Isham's score fit so well to the scenes and overlaps creating a total atmosphere that I again recall the great collaborations of Leone/Morricone, Hitchcock/Herman and Lynch/Badalamenti. The acting is top notch every aspect of the film works amazingly well. This is a hardcore/hardboiled Neo Film Noir about melancholy and regret. Upon multiple re-watches 10/10

morrison-dylan-fan Franticly looking around for a Neo-Noir to watch for a poll that was being held on the Classic Film board for the best movies of 1993,I was disappointed to find that my original choice of Neo-Noir viewing in John Dahl's Red Rock West was being sold at a too expensive price.Not giving up on tracking down a Noir from 93,I was thrilled,when after spending an hour of searching around everywhere online,I finally found a Neo-Noir that seemed to offer all of the dark delights that I had been searching for.The plot:Frustrated over his job being at a standstill and there being a huge gap between his dreams and the money in his wallet,police officer Jack Grimaldi decides to become an informant for a powerful gangster called Don Falcone,with Grimaldi's leaked details to the mob over current police investigations being exchanged for more cash than Jack has ever seen,which leads to Grimaldi deciding that the only safe place where he can safely keep this vast bundle is in a sewer drain,that is based in the back garden of the house which he lives in with his wife,Natalie.Happy over now having enough cash that allows Jack to buy whatever he and Natalie dream of,along with also being able to afford keeping a mistress/girlfriend on the side for the first time ever,Jack accepts Don's new request of helping to "get rid" of a former friend/fellow gangster of Falcone's called Mona Demarkov,who along with currently being held by police,is also being very vocal in saying that she is now bigger and more powerful than Falcone.Planning to get rid of Don's "problem' right away,Jack finds from the moment that his eyes set on Mona,that he becomes tantalised by the alluring sensual powers that she posses,which leads Grimaldi to excitingly suspect that he has finally met a Femme Fatale,who will turn out to be more deadlier than any of the "Julliets" that Grimaldi has spent his life being round.View on the film:Proving that Neo-Noirs do not just come from "a mans world",the fantastic screenplay by Hilary Henkin gives the movie a deliciously Black Comedy scar deep across both its cheeks,with Henkin showing Jack Grimaldi's (played by a wonderfully scrambled Gary Oldman) happiness over feeling the garden drain with a newly discovered flow of cash,slowly transform into an addiction,where the whole meaning of his existence lays in continuing to make his money pit go "deeper" by any means necessary.Working closely with the precise editing of Walter Murch,cinematography Datiusz Wolski and director Peter Medak shoot this terrific Neo-Noir in stylish low angles,which along with showing how "low life" the characters are,also creates a strong subtle atmosphere for the viewer that they are seeing Grimaldi's life slowly sink into the pit,which he has unintentionally dug out for himself.Along with the stylish low angles,Medak and Murch also give the film a surprisingly surreal edge by revealing the unrolling state of mind that Jack finds himself in,from having nightmares in a fairground ride,to seeing every woman that he has gone with aim a gun at him.Featuring not 1,but 3 Femme Fatale dames!,each of the actresses show a determination in making their own pointed-heel mark in being the leading dame of this Neo-Noir,with Annabella Sciorra slowly revealing a real bite as Natalie,whilst Juliette Lewis brilliantly shows Grimaldi's girlfriend/mistress Sheri finding out that she has gotten too close with sinister folk who will now not let Sheri going back to her normal life,and steaming up the screen the moment she arrives,the beautiful Lena Olin mixes a strong,erotic sensual appearance,with a psychotic,demon like laughs that leads Jack to realising how deep in his self created money pit he has sunk.

deconstructing Legend says that, after seeing this film, Bon Jovi decided not to allow their ballade "Always" to be included in it, even though it was written for the film. It's their loss.Romeo is Bleeding is one of those films you either love or hate; it's energetic, unapologetic and raw. Not subtle at all. It goes between a perfect film noir and a parody of the genre. But the best thing about it is the fact it doesn't take itself too seriously.It is a story of a dirty cop and a mysterious, dangerous woman. Gary Odlman and Lena Olin are perfect in their roles, neatly over the top when situation demands it. They understand what kind of the film they're in, even if we don't get it; but everything fits so well at the end.No, it is not a serious, nostalgic film noir. Nor is a highly sexualized 90s crime drama along the lines of Basic Instinct. It's both, at the same time, and more. Some of the action - or sex - scenes will make you laugh, and at one point you might think what you're watching is pure trash. But somehow, it's part of the charm. Because even with the simple (and, dare to say, predictable) plot, this film manages to be unique and memorable.

Oggz I really don't think this is a neo film noir masterpiece some would have you believe it is - it's messy, a little unbalanced and plods occasionally, but it does round up a remarkable cast, employs an inspired Mark Isham soundtrack to great effect and has its stellar moments, namely every time Lena Olin, the true engine of this film, is anywhere to be seen on screen, and for that reason only the movie is worth spending time on. She infuses all her scenes with energy which even Oldman has problems keeping pace with and effortlessly steals the entire film, directed to slightly overdo the grind-glass voiced Russian hitwoman Demarkov as a genuinely dangerous yet irresistible psycho bitch from hell. She pulls it off with great panache though and her performance is what you'll remember long after watching the film. Elsewhere, Oldman freaks out convincingly and by the book, Juliette Lewis pouts around in her underwear pulling her usual few faces before she is bumped off to oblivion, while Sciorra and Scheider leave their mark but end up underused in their episodes. An affectionate yet uneven tribute to film noir that occasionally loses its step and spreads itself a little too thin for comfort, but still definitely watchable.