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Screenings: Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

September 2nd, 2008 · No Comments

Years ago, I tried watching Leaving Las Vegas on video. I didn’t make it past the first 15 to 20 minutes. The acting by Nicolas Cage seemed exaggerated, way over-the-top, and the subject matter – the last days of a man who has decided to drink himself to death – was flat out painful to watch.

Not long after that attempt, one of my neighbors told me that Leaving Las Vegas was, by a long shot, his absolute favorite film. This was confirmed later by his wife, who said that anytime it happened to come on TV, they watched it. Even a clutch football game could get overruled by a cable airing of this film. Believing that a devotion this great must have some degree of merit, I have always kept the intention to watch the film again in the back of my mind. Last week, the opportunity arrived.

I knew that I had to switch my frame of reference, so I approached this viewing as if I was a student of film and literature (which, technically, I am not). It made a difference. How does the director express the story visually? What role does music play? What is the subtext? What is motivating the characters? Do you really expect me to answer these questions? I certainly hope not.

Once a step or two removed from the still excruciatingly raw storyline, I could see much beauty in this film. Visually, it is told in extremes, with most of the proceedings unfolding in darkness, highlighted with vibrant neon strokes. The exception is one brief scene that takes place in the bright Nevada desert sun, after which the two main characters retreat back to their neon nightmare. The music score is made up of several jazz motifs composed by director Mike Figgis, accented by a handful of standards sung by Sting and Don Henley. The use of jazz – an improvisatory art – underscores the heart of the story. Cage’s character has a goal and a method but, like a saxophonist winding his way toward the conclusion of the tune, is largely unaware of the bumps and turns that he will encounter along the way.

It is in this journey that Cage encounters Sera, a prostitute who is having problems of her own. As played by Elisabeth Shue, Sera is the heart of the film. She crosses paths with Cage, and is drawn sympathetically to him as she recognizes a kindred spirit, and out of this unlikely pairing arises a poignant love story. It was also after this moment in the film that I was hopelessly sucked into the spiraling vortex of co-dependence and despair that dominates the second half of the film. It became obvious to me that an intention of writer/director Figgis was to not merely lay out a story in a workmanlike point-by-point fashion, but to immerse his audience into a setting with palpable emotion that is also difficult to delineate.

Great moment:  Nic Cage’s character of Ben driving around Las Vegas while throwing back a bottle of vodka, in full view of a motorcycle cop.

Other great moment:  Ben again, driving again, letting loose with a scream, or a yell, mouth thrown open but with no sound other than the jazz score. This reminded me of the most emotional moment of the most emotional scene at the end of Godfather III: Michael Corleone, on the steps of the opera house, lets out a deafening silent wail after witnessing the murder of his daughter. (Sorry for the spoiler, if you haven’t seen the film. The offending moment begins just after 2:15 in the following clip, but the whole scene from this unjustly maligned movie is worth watching.)

Tags: film · music · Screenings

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