Blues For Ben
Not me. Roger Ebert, in his Great Movies column, features Leaving Las Vegas, one of my favorites.
I’ve been looking for an excuse to link to an Ebert column, because I wanted to say how much people miss if they only watch him on television, which I don’t much anymore. There is a reason why the man won a Pulitzer; he is one of the best examples of the reviewer-as-essayist working today. It’s a genre I try to work in, as you know if you read my feature on The West Wing, for example. I don’t always agree with what he says, but I’m almost always engaged by the way he says it.
Here’s some of how he says it about Leaving Las Vegas:
“The movie tells the story of Ben and Sera, played by Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue. He is a Hollywood agent, she is a prostitute. Although prostitutes can be a cliche in the movies, and those with a good heart even more so, the details of their relationship leave cliches far behind, and the movie becomes the story of these specific characters and exactly who they are. There is also the truth that a man in Ben’s condition would be unable to begin any relationship without paying for it.”
“Cage’s performance in these early scenes is an acutely observed record of a man coming to pieces. He shows Ben imploding, rigid in his attempt to maintain control, to smile when he does not feel a smile, to make banter when he wants to scream. He needs a drink. During the movie, Cage will take Ben into the regions of hell. There will be times when he has the DTs, times when he must pour booze into his throat like an antidote to death, times of nausea, blackouts, cuts and bruises. There is a scene in a bank when his hands shake so badly he cannot sign a check, and we empathize with the way he tries to function, telling the bank teller whatever he can think of (“I’ve had brain surgery”). Yes, sometimes, he feels better, and sometimes we can sense the charm he must have had (we sense his boss’ affection for him even as he’s being fired). But for Ben these moments are not about pleasure but about the temporary release from pain.”
