Customer Reviews

The Man from Elysian Fields ( The Escort ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Sweden ]

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have the chance to see this film in a cinema in Hong Kong. This film is so good that I am going to buy the DVD. Andy Garcia is truly a terrifc actor and he brings Bryon (his character in this film) to live. The other actors like James Coburn, Olivia Williams and Mick Jagger (yes he can act) in this film is excellent too. A good story, beautiful cinematography, well written dialogue, excellent acting make this film very enjoyable. Too bad, this film did not get the attention it deserves. So, I strongly recommend this DVD to everyone who missed it in the cinemas.

This is a finely cast film with some terrific performances by the late James Coburn, Angelica Huston, and Mick Jagger. This is a stellar film. The plot is interesting and challenging, and the main character, played by Andy Garcia, is believable and really gives you a good look at the what if's given this kind of situation and really makes you ask what would you do.

The plot is simple. Good-looking, former ad agency hotshot turned writer, appropriately named Byron (Andy Garcia), has written and published his first book that, despite warm reviews, has ended up as a remainder. His second book has been rejected by his publisher. His supportive, stay at home wife, Dena (Juliana Margulies), and young child need him to bring home the bacon, so what is an aspiring young writer to do? He turns to a male escort service that has an office in the same building in which Byron has an office that he uses for his writing. Right away the film is engaging.

This escort service is deliciously run by Luthor Fox, which Faustian role is played with silken, Machiavellian overtones by Mick Jagger due to a bit of inspired casting. Luthor himself still dabbles in the field by servicing Jennifer, one of his original clients, played with sophisticated finesse by Angelica Huston. Byron is initially reluctant to do this sort of work, because he does love his wife, and because he seems to have some moral scruples.

Fortuitously for him, Byron's first assignment is to escort a coldly beautiful, young woman named Andrea, played with icy hauteur by the lovely Olivia Williams. Andrea just happens to be married to aging Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, Tobias Alcott (James Coburn). Before Byron knows it, his moral scruples are blowing in the wind. It turns out that this assignment has him servicing both the Alcotts in ways he could never have imagined. Of course, his pact with the Alcotts has its short lived financial rewards, but its long term impact on his marriage, his writing career, and his psyche is another matter.

There are some juicy and memorable moments in the film. Tobias Alcott has a knack for entering his wife's room to chat, at just precisely the wrong moment. When Luthor decides to take his business arrangement with Jennifer to a new level, he gets an ego shattering surprise that has some cinematic interest. The scene at the end, when Byron realizes just where his pact with the Alcotts has led him, causing him to indulge in an act of vandalism is just what you think you would do if you were in his shoes.

Byron gets an advance on the book he is writing with famous author and gets a new house. Byron's disinclination to get a "respectable" job feeds the motivation to getting a job with the escort service as a last resort. His verbal pact with the crusty Tobias, regarding a collaborative writing effort leads you to believe he's gotten an advance from him and a sound basis for Byron getting a new house in a more upscale neighborhood and doing scads of shopping with Dena. Byron comes across as a guy down on his luck but very compassionate and therefore sympathetic. The character of Dena is very realistic, as Ms. Margulies is the sweetly trusting and supporting wife as some women can be because they want to believe the best about their husbands.

This film was very enjoyable, and personal to me. There was stellar performances from Mick Jagger, James Coburn, and Angelica Huston. Andy Garcia and Juliana Margulies are amazing in their roles, while Olivia Williams manages to hold her own in a challenged role. The movie builds the characters strongly and you are right there with them when they have to make their choices sitting on the edge of your seat, talking to the TV and crying along with the consequences and having so much hope for the characters. Not too often does a movie come along where I am actually caring for the roles. I highly recommend this film.

Well, let's see. When his first novel (entitled "Hitler's Child") fails to generate sales and his publisher refuses to print his second book, what is a starving writer to do?

Work for a male escort service, of course!

As goofy as this premise is, THE MAN FROM ELYSIAN FIELDS actually delivers a compelling story that is both fun and painful to watch. Unable to get his old job back and desperately strapped for cash, hard luck novelist Byron Tiller (Andy Garcia) is lured by the seductive enticement of "easy money" as an escort for Elysian Fields, a playground for rich, neglected housewives. Problem is, there's nothing "easy" about Byron's new career, and this character learns lesson after lesson--about himself, about the importance of his marriage--via a very unforgiving school of hard knocks.

The tragic irony of this film manifests itself over and over. By trying to provide for and protect his family, Byron's poor decision to join Elysian only serves to destroy it. And naturally--irony of ironies--Byron's best client is the exotic, beautiful Andrea Alcott (Olivia Williams), who just happens to be married to Pulitzer-prize winning novelist Tobias Alcott (played wonderfully by James Coburn). The ailing Tobias seeks Byron's aid to rewrite his last novel; the young writer eagerly agrees; the stage is set for dismal, heartbreaking disappointment (should have insisted on a written contract, dude).

Garcia is so soft-spoken and restrained in this role, even after getting knocked down again and again, that I--unlike some of the reviewers here--actually was relieved when he finally unleashed some anger and frustration by trashing the wardrobe room at Elysian Fields. I'll bet the character felt better; I know I did.

Mick Jagger as the articulate, whiskey-sipping proprietor of Elysian Fields was an unexpected and delightful surprise. The ending was a bit uneven and sappy, but entirely predictable. For all you struggling writers out there, I would recommend you forego becoming an escort and pick something safer. Sword swallowing comes to mind.
--D. Mikels

Andy Garcia plays a surprisingly empathetic character in this for the most part very well-done movie. An unemployed writer who cannot support his family about whom he cares deeply, Garcia reluctantly becomes employed with Elysian Fields, a male escort service. But woe to him who makes a pact with the Devil. Garcia betrays those he most wanted to protect, his wife and child.

There are some problems with the plot, however. For example, shouldn't Garcia's wife have had suspicions about a job that took him away from home most nights? I don't know what high-priced gigolos make these days, but shouldn't the wife also have questioned Garcia's ability to move into such a fine home so quickly. Finally, we find out about the death of the Pulitzer Price winning writer-- played by James Coburn-- when the screen goes white and two ceramic angels appear. That scene should have been edited out.

On the other hand, there is some really fine acting here, particularly that of the handsome Garcia, how is totallly credible as a male escort. The performance of Mike Jagger was the surprise of the movie, however. I had no idea he could act.

A very pleasant way to spent a couple of hours.

Did not know about this film. I just found it at the video store on saturday.
The kind of film that you do not know why it is not a famous picture.
Very interesting subject. Changing roles; he is the one who has to be a prostitute to support his family. Very interesting, I do not think there are much more films about it.
Andy Garcia plays with the image of "latin lover" to give just the opposite message. "You can have a lot of things as a latin lover, but you also can loose everything because of it".
I think that alaso talks abou the way of living that we have; what is more important , to have a high level life or to have the ones you have besides. As it happens with Mick Jagger's character, at the end, what it is really important is love and be love.All the characters in the film do things because of love, to themselves or the others and all of them, are fighting till the end trying not to be alone. To betrayed yourself and others, to loose things in fighting for a dream....(Great perfomance of Jagger, never thought of him like a gentlemen, very elegant).
Good performaces in general, good soundtrack and a very good slow rythm in general. Very interesting film, I recommend it absolutely.

THE MAN FROM ELYSIAN FIELDS is ostensibly a story about male escort services, the type of escorts needed by older ladies who require bright, worldly, attractive men. But if you're expecting an expose on the life of male escorts pass this one by. This film is a well made tale about what men and women will do to find money/success/love - all wrapped into a tidy little package about a writer on the skids who needs to support his beloved family and just happens to meet a resource in an escort service. An incidental plus is that the writer is assigned to a women who is married to a dying famous writer, a man who is completely informed about his wife's needs and turns those needs into a benefit for him (finishing his last novel). In the hands of less than superb actors this could become a TV novella, but given the cast of Andy Garcia (wirter), Julianna Margulies (his wife), Mick Jagger ( the 'pimp'), Anjelica Huston (jagger's client),and Olivia Williams (the 'other woman') and James Coburn (the dying writer) the whole film works well. There is a warm feeling at the end that makes us appreciate the value of real love. A good diversion of a movie.

To begin with, Mick Jagger, James Coburn (especially James Coburn), and Andy Garcia turn in solid performances. The mood and cinematography are befittingly noir, the ironic nuances clever, the opening scenes reasonably realistic, the middle ... most of it needs that you suspend belief, and the ending, after a brief foray into reality, is unacceptably schmaltzy.

That said, I do recommend this film. After all, we know that truth can be stranger than fiction, and you deal with the contradictions here by labeling them as "allegorical." Besides, this IS a cautionary tale, not only for authors and artists, but for everyone. Firstly, accept that in the Arts, it's not the best man who wins but the luckier one, and second, never take anyone's promise just by his/her word, but oh! do secure that CONTRACT SIGNED AND SEALED in front of witnesses and notary. Byron the down-on-his-luck author gets royally screwed by the person for whom he is paid to do that to her in bed. Spoiler? No. Because just this part alone (how Byron gets cheated by the beautiful, icy, Andrea) makes it worth watching to absorb the lesson.

I bought MAN FROM ELYSIAN FIELDS because of the reviews I read here --- and... now comes the big confession: because I too am an author. Got five published novels, even readers in far off New Zealand and Turkey, as feathers on my cap, and am of course broke a la Byron the Author; so how could I ever not purchase this film?

As I've said earlier, MAN FROM ELYSIAN FIELDS opens realistically enough. Byron has published a novel which, though well received by critics, has ended up in the bargain bin due to lackluster sales, there is no immediate hope for a second book contract, and financially he is in deep you-know-what. Now the plot loses credibility because Byron is presented as so desperate for money that he accepts work as a "well-paid escort to women, in and out of bed." Byron is married, loves his wife, and doesn't want to cheat on her; Garcia plays this part convincingly. It is the director and the writers who don't give us, the viewers, enough reason to believe that he is doing this out of desperation. True, many authors (as pointed out by another reviewer further down the line here) work as waiters, tele-marketers (ah, but many telemarketing jobs are getting outsourced to other countries), or ad agency copy-writers. In fact, Byron too has worked in an ad agency and lost his job because of a dispute with his boss. Still, there are other jobs out there, and the writers do not show him as trying long and hard enough to find something more suited than working for the escort service.

What I found believable, however, is that Byron did co-write a book with the famous author Tobias Alcott (played by James Coburn) whom he'd admired from afar until the day serendipity placed them in each other's orbit, without the benefit of a contract. The character of Pulitzer winner Tobias Alcott is quite well-drawn, he is the true hero of this movie, an honorable, sophisticated man who loves his wife more than his own male ego, who looks death in the eye with such a natural grace that he not only commands your respect, but of course, your trust... and I'm afraid that I, too, would have trusted him and written that book with him without the contract....

So, over all, this is a good film, and Mick Jagger's acting is better than good, a suitable match to James Coburn's stellar delivery. When you're finished viewing this film, you'll be wondering: Did Byron have no recourse, could he not have contested Tobias' sole authorship of this book? Fact is, he had the original files, we saw him work on the book at home, on his computer... and then comes an even more difficult question: What of Tobias? Was he the mastermind of the plot to cheat Byron? Yes indeed I do recommend MAN FROM THE ELYSIAN FIELDS, it makes you think long after you turn off your VCR or DVD player. Enjoy!

This independent film starring Andy Garcia looked promising and it is enjoyable to sit through, but the movie is an elephant balanced on one leg. Somehow Garcia is this failed L.A. novelist that use to work in the Ad game. Now he's married with baby and no income is coming his way. His current novel is unpublishable. the wife's father is rich, but hates him. He told his former boss in the Ad agency off, and can't get that job back. So what is a hero to do? Go to work as a male escort for pimp, Mick Jagger. Now the film is full of good actors and pleasant faces. That babe Olivia Williams of RUSHMORE fame shows up as the lady who wants Garcia as an escort, and her dying husband is played by the great James Colburn.

The whole thing is played 100% serious, but probably worked better as that Rob Schneider gigolo film comedy I never saw. Why? Because it's ridiculous to think that Garcia can't get another ad job in a city as big as Los Angeles, even if he did anger the old boss. Garcia is so pained by having to be a prostitute, I am reminded of the seriousness that Costner tried to portray in the campy POSTMAN.

Now if that wasn't bad enough, James Colburn isn't just the husband of Garcia's client, but a famous writer of the day. And it seems that Colburn can't finish his new novel. It further seems that the unpublishable Garcia is asked to collaborate because it's known that he is a writer of some sort.

This may have sounded good in the story phase, and I will admit that Garcia is as good as ever, but you just can't take this movie all that seriously. But it was still fun.

This movie tries really, really hard to be meaningful and insightful and, at times, it actually gets there. Unfortunately, it never quite pulls its story together and the ending is way simplistic and insulting. Still, Andy Garcia is very sympathetic while the real revelation is Mick Jagger who does an excellent job as the devilish pimp. Angelica Huston is also excellent in a small supporting role for which she barely gets credit (odd for an Oscar winner??!!). Anyway, I can't say I'd tell any friends about this movie or recommend it to anyone personally, but if you happen across it and watch it, you'll find a few things to like and a few to dislike. 2.5 stars.

Unfortunately, this film didn't get the run it deserved in the theaters. That said, everyone I know who has seen it has something good to say about it. Considering its subject matter, the film is actually just an old fashioned love story.

The leads are all perfectly cast but it is Mick Jagger who is the true revelation in all of this. He gives a "best supporting actor" performance.

Its too bad the Academy Awards basically ignore smaller films that do not have the financial backing to buy, er, win an Oscar.