The Blackout (1997)

Sadly Over-hyped

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Back in the hazy days of grip/electric life, I got a call to work as the BB Grip on my 2nd (and last) Abel Ferrara film - "The Blackout". I accepted the gig with one non-negotiable caveat - I would never be willing to enter what I term "the meat grinder" (defined as any space within 150 feet of the madman auteur). "The Blackout" IS Abel Ferrara....albeit a PG-13 version. In a sense, the experience of making the film was an act of performance art...art lived as actual "life" or perhaps life lived as a Bosch nightmare...on the one hand, it was genius; on the other, pure madness. What remains is a snippet of documentary into the soul of AF.

The Blackout (1997) was a film that Abel Ferrara directed but it wasn't released in the United States for nearly four years. But it was worth the wait. Instead of his usual gritty street dramas, Ferrara delves into the soul of his characters and how damaging self guilt and having an unforgiving conscience can be. Matthew Modine stars as a free wheeling celebrity who lives the life style of sex and drugs. One night after a wild night of self indulgence, he wakes up a can't remember what happened. But his old lady is dead and he feels like he's responsible. Years later, he's clean and sober but his past comes back and haunts him. One of his running buddies (Dennis Hopper) comes back into his life and his old habits return. With the return of his bad habits, a ghost from the past haunts his every step. He even begins to see a woman that looks just like his dead woman. But he's unable to get over the past and goes back to his self destructive ways. Soon he's so far gone that there's only one thing to do. Return to his dead love.A dark and twisted movie. This is another type of cinema that Abel Ferrara excels in. If it isn't the urban street drama then it's the guilty soul seeking redemption or solace. Abel Ferrara is a highly underrated director who deserves recognition for his films. A great film maker and story teller.Highly recommended.

Movie star in a failing relationship goes to Miami and Mexico on drug and booze binge to try and put things together. Instead he falls into a blackout and loses the girl with Hopper filming a video about it all. So he goes back to New York. drys out and finds another woman but he takes one of the AA steps too far for his own good. Making amends can be difficult if he killed the woman? The film missed US theaters and I can see why. The dreamier scenes and symbolism are ruined by the sound track which is deafening, irritating and not at all in tune with the flow of the picture. Modine is good but Hopper only goes thru the motions.

Neurosis and character antipathy do not make for commercial success. THE BLACKOUT bypassed cinemas in the US, and here in Australia. The multiplex monster has no room for mavericks like Ferrara.As there are no others quite like the rebellious Ferrara, he takes liberties from his own catalogue. This time, there are shades of SNAKE EYES (1993), and it pre-empts NEW ROSE HOTEL (1998). In form though, it owes much more to Hitchcock, and VERTIGO.Like VERTIGO, THE BLACKOUT masquerades as a thriller, but is more concerned with the nature of identity. Relocating to Miami, the film is aesthetically great, though Modine looks (justifiably) clueless. The axis of the film is the concept rather than plot and the clash of high-art pretension with low-brow sleaze is conscious.Some ideas don't come off, and the form of THE BLACKOUT is awkward. But if it is too cold and removed for most filmgoers tastes, it is still a showcase for an uncompromising, daring director, willing to upset accepted conventions.The biggest disappointment is that his invention is left in this case to an unheralded release, and will go largely unnoticed.