cv865_28796.txt

one of these days , i'll make good on my promise never to rent another abel ferrara movie . 
king of new york and body snatchers notwithstanding ( and bad lieutenant is only fit for a single , emotive viewing ) , his exploitation flicks have fallen into a rut of hoary art-house trappings . 
it's a perfume-drenched , coke-addled visit to the seedy pornography shop , where beautiful models ( no , hookers -- no , courtesans ) usher you through the silk curtains . 
ferrara's only consistently smart move has been casting christopher walken over and over again , since walken can make a good movie great and a loathsome movie durable whenever he's onscreen . 
his 8-minute scene in the addiction is the saving grace of that otherwise abysmal , unwatchable , and pretentious failure . 
when he starts talking about his vampiric bowel movements , or questions whether lili taylor has ever read naked lunch , there's a much-needed dose of humor in an otherwise terminally unfunny affair . 
you know those gothic club kids who are too cool to smile and let you know they're actually having fun ? 
the addiction is that movie . 
walken , sadly , does not appear in the blackout . 
the central role of matty , a junkie film star whose lightning paced hollywood life among the beautiful people is inevitably leading to his destruction , is played by matthew modine ( who takes what he can get after cutthroat island ) . 
much like the protagonists of michelangelo antonioni's terminally bored cultural elite , matty is involved in a bitter pill " relationship " with high fashioned model annie ( at least i think she's a model . ) 
matty's lady is played by french actress b ? atrice dalle , arrested twice for cocaine possession during filming of the blackout -- not that you needed to know that , but it lends credence to the idea that ferrara's entire oeuvre has been filmed in a fucking blackout . 
no kidding . 
requiem for a dream has nothing on the junkie presentations seen in ferrara's movies and his controversial urban lifestyle . 
matty and annie struggle over her decision to have an abortion without consulting him . 
no doubt , he was off chasing the dragon . 
in his despair , matty indulges in a chemical induced weekend of debauchery , tooling around the streets of miami with video filmmaker mickey wayne ( dennis hopper , in full " dirty ol' man " mold smacking models on the ass and telling them to spread their legs . 
wider ! ) 
toward the end of the night , they pick up a teenage waitress also named annie ( sarah lassez ) , start shooting a hastily improvised sexual scene , then matty thankfully blacks out . 
something happened that night which haunts him throughout the rest of the movie , and it's exactly what you think it was . 
suffice to say , there's some confusion over whether he killed annie one or annie two , or anyone at all . 
the blackout is typical ferrara : no plot to speak of , plenty of raunch , and horribly vogue images of matthew modine downing a bottle of jack daniels and a beer while wrapping himself in a see-through curtain in his hotel room by the sea , by the sea , by the beautiful sea . 
cinematographer ken kelsch finds inconsistent glory in alternating gorgeous painterly sunsets with docu-style sleaze ( and we're back to dennis hopper leering at girls in bathing suits . 
 " yeah ! ! ! 
yeah ! ! ! 
arrrghhh ! " 
says mr . hopper . 
dirty old sod . ) 
it's compulsive viewing in a tacky sort of way , leading to a ridiculous climax where modine seizes control of his destiny . 
how's that for cryptic ? 
never fear -- ferrara finds time for some female full frontal nudity to remind us what he's all about . 
i can picture it now . 
 " take off yer clothes , kid -- it's essential to depict the inner maelstrom of my central protagonist , and you're his visual id . 
you're the soul , the heart , the bloodstream of the picture . 
take it off ! 
take it all off ! ! ! 
ha ha ha ! " 
friggin' vampire . 
yeah , you , ferrara . 
a final word about matthew modine : he's actually a fine actor when properly cast , but there's something too squeaky-clean in his demeanor . 
he's ideally suited for sarcastic men in tightly controlled situations , such as his private joker in full metal jacket or the time-bomb nebbish in short cuts ( who is every bit as superb as julianne moore in that famous scene , though no one seems to notice him ) . 
[he was in that scene ? 
-ed . ] 
here , he's asked to let it all hang out , sporting a three-day stubble and oily bangs . 
he throws around furniture like stanley kowalski , but it's somehow lacking . 
modine lacks the feral intensity of brando , entirely miscast in ferrara's flesh fair . 
better luck next time , matt . 
someday , you'll be forgiven for cutthroat island , which wasn't really your fault in the first place . 
maybe atom egoyan will find a place for you somewhere , and all will once again be well in your world .