Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Directed by Mike Figgis. Starring Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Julian Sands, Richard Lewis, Steven Weber, Valeria Golino, Emily Procter. [R]

Alcoholic screenwriter Cage decides he’s going to drink himself to death in Sin City; Vegas call girl Shue is abused by her pimp and degrades herself on a regular basis to get by. That these two derelict and unapologetic souls would find each other at all is practically a storytelling cliché, but how they interact and agree to accept rather than “save” each other makes it a much more uniquely rewarding (if harrowing) filmgoing experience. The actors build their characters out of hard, observed truths, and neither one breaks the façade for the sake of demonstrative stagecraft, even during Shue’s self-aware monologue snippets that seem to be directed at an unseen therapist. Their behavior and circumstances can be difficult to watch, but the roles have been so meticulously crafted that they’re blessed with brief moments to be charming, tender, sexy, touching, and the simplicity of their mutual need and sufferance is as powerful as their situations are tragic. Only one late scene feels too contrived for the sake of catharsis, but it’s a matter of problematic timing, not motivation. Noir-ish 16 mm handheld camerawork by Declan Quinn; writer/director Figgis also composed the music. John O’Brien, the author of the semi-autobiographical novel upon which the film is based, committed suicide during the early stages of production. Cage’s performance won him a well-deserved Academy Award. Look for several famous faces (Laurie Metcalf, R. Lee Ermey, Danny Huston, and others) in small roles.

93/100