Customer Reviews

The Blackout

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This movie is mainly about a guy who gets trapped into drug and alcohol abuse but manages to escape it. Somehow, as in real life, the your history will never be erased and he is trapped again in tragic circumstances with his new wife, pregnancy, memory loss from his 'wild days'. This film will not give much to viewer which has not experienced heavy drinking or drug use. For those which has bad experiences or any experience at all, will have a wake-up call and hopefully watch this film in awe. The film can be watched in the same session as 'Requiem for a dream', an uncredible film about drug abuse and the society that not only sells drugs 'illegally' but also a society in which one can get heavy drugs prescribed and legally.

If you appreciate films by the likes of Antonioni, Lynch, Bunuel and Franju and you enjoy entering the inner worlds of characters then you'll probably find much to admire in this movie... it is unapolagetically dark, meandering, atmospheric, sometimes half baked, but ultimately haunting and utterly poignant. The DVD is bare bones with a decent transfer.

This is a stylish but rather empty venture from Abel Ferrara. Familiar themes surface -- substance abuse, guilt, self-destruction -- but are offered in the service of a tale that simply didn't need to be told. Matthew Modine is an alcoholic debauching his way down the tunnel, surrounded by Hollywood decadence, include Dennis Hopper in a hardly-surprising role as a rather perverse corruptor. Ferrara made the point that evil can be very, erm, attractive in KING OF NEW YORK, and he did it without having to have quite as many naked women cavort about on screen (there's much of that here). Modine is talented, as are the supporting cast, but come the end of the film I had learned nothing, and the only pleasures I could identify myself as feeling were masochistic ones. Now, if you LIKE seeing movies about people's descent to the bottom, maybe you'll get off on this, but...

Matty (Matthew Modine) is an actor with a great career and a hot French girlfriend named Annie. He is also an alcoholic and a major drug addict. He wants to settle down with Annie but she refuses his requests for marriage due to his addictions. This is what caused Annie to have an abortion. She didn't want their child to grow up with an addict for a father. Matty can't believe that Annie would do that and he taunts her by asking if it hurt when " they cut it out" of her body. He seems to forget that he is the one who suggested that she have an abortion. He is paranoid that she is sleeping with all of his friends despite her denying it. Annie grows tired of his abusive ways and leaves him. Dennis Hopper plays Matty's friend Mickey. He is a director who believes that all directors are as powerful as God. He thinks that the film he is making is an art film with serious ambitions. The film eventually turns into a snuff film full of sex, drugs, and violence. Matty and Mickey hop in Mickey's car and begin hitting up the bars looking for some women to film and have sex with. As Matty is having sex with one of the stars of Mickey's movie he whines endlessly about how much he loved Annie and wonders how he's going to live without her. He is too stoned to realize that Mickey is getting all of this on tape. The next morning Matty goes to a restaurant where he meets an attractive young waitress. Her name is Annie and Matty becomes obsessed with her. He asks her out that night and takes her to go see Mickey as he is editing his movie. Mickey starts calling her Annie 2. While Matty is off snorting some coke Mickey talks Annie into appearing in his movie. Something horrible happens to Annie 2 that night which is all caught on tape. Matty can't remember anything about that night since he blacked out and the only person that knows the truth is Mickey.A year and a half go by in which time Matty has gotten himself clean and sober. He has a new girlfriend as well. Her name is Susan (Claudia Schiffer) and the two share a small apartment in New York. Matty hasn't forgotten about his Annies though and when Susan goes out of town he heads back to Miami hoping to find out what became of his lost loves. It doesn't take long for him to find Mickey and start using again. In his drugged out stupor he tries to figure out what happened that night and what exactly is on that tape that Mickey made. This film is a total mess that had the promise of being something good. Abel could have made it an interesting Vertigo homage with Matty remaking Annie 2 into the original Annie and trying to live a life with her but Annie 2 doesn't last long enough for that to happen. What we are left with are endless scenes of Matty whining about his lost love and how bad his life is due to the drugs and drinking. That doesn't stop him from using though. Modine has been decent in other films but he overacts terribly in this one. Hopper is Hopper which is to say crazy. His scenes with the scared Annie 2 recall a bad porn where the camera man tries to coax his terrified starlet into saying or doing anything sexual. Claudia Schiffer is good looking but she can't act and her presence doesn't help the film any. Beatrice Dalle and Sarah Lassez, who play the Annies, are both good looking and they both get naked but their characters are never developed and we don't know enough about them to care. The film is just a disaster and easily ranks as one of Ferrara's worst films. The films that came before it (New Rose Hotel) and after it (R'xmas) are masterpieces in comparison.

that's pretty much all it is. some good acting, but a pointless film. (but if you're a Beatrice Dalle fan, watch it once; or watch the first few minutes. she disappears after that.)

A confusing silly mishmash of soft porn and filthy language topped off with a raving Dennis Hopper, who during a long period in his career appeared in a number of stinkers, apparently to pay the rent.
There is nothing of any artistic merit in this travesty of moviemaking - the editing, direction, story, music, photography and acting are all ludicrous and repellent, without exception. Matthew Modine, in his excessive kissing scenes seems to be wanting to prove something...if you make it past the early scene, I suppose you can survive the rest of the movie.
Well maybe there is one exception - Claudia Schiffer IS a sweetie and she deserved a better vehicle in her first major film role; she's tolerably competent and nice to look at. Unfortunately, her character is brutalized and abused for caring, and somehow she always comes back for more; maybe she's a masochist.

Matthew Modine is a fantastic actor but lately it seems his fortunes have turned. He's rarely in anything decent and I guess his TV show "The Bedford Diaries" has been cancelled after 8 episodes. How low do you have to go to get cancelled from the WB?

Anyway, I was excited to find a film with Modine in the starring role that I had not seen.

This movie is terrible! I expected nothing and got it three-fold. I don't even know where to begin. The writing is bad and the characters just keep repeating their lines as though they can't believe the garbage they have to say. The plot is totally corny. I think the only reason I kept watching is because I don't recall ever seeing Modine so skeevy before and that was actually interesting.

But don't let that sway you.

Believe me, if I Could give this film negative stars, I totally would.

I rented this film not expecting too much because it looked sleazy on the video cover. What an understatement! There is nudity throughout especially with the scenes containing Dennis Hopper, but this is not the kind of nudity I find attractive in the least with women degrading themselves and most of the scenes seem out of place and unnecessary (trust me on this). Well, I have sat through many a "bad movie" on HBO late at night and found the movie satisfactory because of certain actors I enjoy watching (Hopper comes to mind)or some type of interesting plot devices. Well, the actors are all shallow individuals and not worth the time to watch WITH THE EXCEPTION of Claudia Shiffer who is both beautiful AND a caring person (MY dream come true!), and what makes this picture deserving of LESS than 1 star is the character of Matthew Modine (the actor I like) who repeatedly fails to take control of his life EVEN WHEN HE HAS SOMEONE AS WONDERFUL AS CLAUDIA'S character helping him! I have done some stupid things in my life and made my share of mistakes but believe me when a woman like that comes along, I will do what it takes to make the relationship work, which includes NOT pining for a lost love (who was NOT worth the effort). Anyway, this movie depressed me for days and left me feeling sad and empty- don't say you weren't warned!

I rented this film not expecting too much because it looked sleazy on the video cover. What an understatement! There is nudity throughout especially with the scenes with Dennis Hopper, but this is not the kind of nudity I find attractive in the least with women degrading themselves and most of the scenes seems out of place and unnecessary (trust me on this). Well, I have sat through many a "bad movie" on HBO late at night and found the movie satisfactory because of certain actors I enjoy

watching (Hopper comes to mind)or some type of interesting plot devices. Well, the actors are all shallow individuals and not worth the time to watch WITH THE EXCEPTION of Claudia Shiffer who is both beautiful AND a caring person (MY dream come true!), and what makes this picture deserving of LESS than 1 star is the character of Matthew Modine (the actor I like) who repeatedly fails to take control of his life EVEN WHEN HE HAS SOMEONE AS WONDERFUL AS CLAUDIA'S character helping him! (...). Anyway, this movie depressed me for days and left me feeling sad and empty- don't say you weren't warned!