God's Lonely Man

'God's Lonely Man' is allegedly "inspired by fact" so when watching this obvious homage to 'Taxi Driver' it raises some interesting questions regarding fact and fiction, what is real and what isn't. Almost any movie compared to Scorsese's masterpiece can't help but come off second best, but Gaspar Noe managed to make a brilliant and disturbing movie inspired by the same source (1998's 'I Stand Alone') so there's really no reason why Von Zerneck Jr couldn't have done the same. Unfortunately 'God's Lonely Man' doesn't entirely convince. Maybe it is Michael Wyle in the lead role, I dunno, but something just doesn't ring true, and his character's eventual freak out seems forced and unreal. Much better I thought was Heather McComb ('Apt Pupil') who gives a strong performance which shows a lot of promise. The best scene by far in the film was the movie screening involving an unusually cast but very effective Paul Dooley ('Sixteen Candles') and the very creepy Tom Towles ('Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer'). That was powerful, shocking and unexpected. If the rest of the movie had been as good as that it would have been another story, but as is, this is an uneven, sometimes dull and frustrating movie, which even so JUST has enough good bits to make it worth watching. Many others think much more highly of this movie than me, but I can't say it impressed me all that much.

In the years since I saw this film in 1997, it remains a dark, desolate, haunting experience which repeated viewings have not diminished. Its a strong film which gets inside the alienated yearning of a central character, Ernest, whose love and passion is undercut by self-hatred and fear of his own invisibility. The resemblance to Travis Bickle from "Taxi Driver" is a welcome reminder that the cinema can still seek out the painful, destructive and lost characters that were far more frequently and successfully envisioned in 1970s films. Its not really a pastiche or mockery as some critics on its release argued. Rather its a re-examination of the place of someone like Travis Bickle in another time. Its also based on a true story. This gut-wrenching film has a fearsome score reminiscent of "The Exorcist" (even the credits evoke that film). It succeeds best in those moments where Ernest and 15 year old Chrsitiane seek to establish a truthful relationship. Its not an easy film and the performance of Michale Wyle is jarring on a first viewing but in time the truth of his performance shines. Morally the film is complex and the violence is excessive.

My first thoughts after seeing this movie was a mixture of excitement and appreciation;after a while I still think that that's one of the best films I have ever seen.The movie is about Ernest,a lonely and suicidal drug user with an excellent performance by Michael Wyle.Ernest is a strange,depressed and mostly an insecure person who looks for a bit of love.he is fired from his job after harassing the daughter of his boss and begins something like a journey of self-redemption when he joins a 15 year old hooker who lost her sister to a gang that produces and sells snuff films.throughout their relationship Ernest is functioning as a guarding angel to Christiane,but as to himself his mind moves from reality to illusions,until the surprising but unavoidable ending. The movie was so chilling and depressing that it leaves you empty spiritually and emotionally;a movie that should have got a better recognition,but yet,it's not too late to get acquainted with it.

An intense and touching performance by Michael Wyle drives God's Lonely Man, a gritty powder keg of a film that plays like an updated west coast version of Taxi Driver, its most obvious influence. Indeed, some may dismiss God's Lonely Man as nothing more than a pastiche but I strongly disagree. The central performance by Michael Wyle is reason enough to see the film—he has the uncanny ability to go from Deniro-like intensity to almost Woody Allenesque neurosis in the blink of an eye; it's an entirely convincing piece of acting and his tortured-loser persona had me rooting for him from the first reel to the end credits.

Paul Dooly shows courage for taking the part of a creepy child pornographer and Tom Towles proves he can do more to suggest hidden depths of depravity in one scene than most actors can in an entire film.

The writing is good, the characterizations dead-on and there are some genuinely unnerving touches that set a tone for mid 90s Los Angeles that is every bit as decayed and frightening as anything seen in the New York of Taxi Driver or Bringing Out the Dead. In contrast to those two films, which are steeped in darkness & the stylings of noir, most of God's Lonely Man transpires in the daytime--but the sunlight provides no comfort or protection. It's a nightmare world of Porno shops and AA meetings where sirens scream on the soundtrack at unexpected times accompanied by the sound of children crying while crack-dealers abuse their customers in sleazy passive-aggressive power games.

A scene set in a baseball-park where a child pornographer peddles his wares (right during the little league game he is coaching) carries a slimy, unsettling edge that reminded me of the fiction of Andrew Vachss in its depiction of evil lurking just under the surface of wholesome everyday appearances.

The violence, when it comes, isn't as over the top or nightmarishly gory as Taxi Driver but it packs a wallop.

Obviously It is not a commercial production. I mean you assume a movie is successful on a basis of the tickets sold. I address my review to the anonymous Mexican's comment written above. What we should judge in a work is its quality and what you call a 'nonsense story' It's actually the plot. The 'loser' you talk about, the main character, represents the weakness of the man within the society. So depression, despair, loneliness are expressing the difficulty of a man in having a role in the society. A movie is usually successful when there are a winner, empathy, a nice end, some nice girl and a nice environment. But it's just leisure, it's fake. The main character of this movie faces reality and suggest a way to deal with it, even if it's losing. Thanks.