The Blackout

I really think that this film is underrated, since I enjoyed it quiet a lot.The unique Ferraras atmosphere is present in it, and i didn't find it any confusing. Grait acting especially from Denis Hopper is pleasant to watch, and a good soundtrack makes this film even better thrill.

I would advise it to people who like David Lynch, not for surrealism, which is not present here, but for the created mood and atmosphere. Not a regular Hollywood stuff. Althou the plot is quiet easy to follow,Ferarra's ability of doing things his way makes it a great experience for the audience...

Good film, but maybe not for everyone

my rating: 9/10

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.

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.

It takes a while to get into the movie's mood - Modine's druggy trawl through a razor-sharp Miami is not very well differentiated despite Ferrara's excellent handling, teetering at the edge of surrender to the prevailing decadence but always retaining a distinct alienation and fascinated disgust. Later on the style becomes more tightly formal and controlled, befitting Modine's cleared up state, and Ferrara's portrayal of his obsession and disquietude is very effective in a more conventionally expositional way. Towards the end the mechanics of the ultimate revelation really take over, but Hopper's final long profane shouting fit at Modine after he learns the truth is too hard-hitting to be set aside, and the high-risk final image is oddly touching - the movie is a plausible account of a true lost soul grappling for stability in a world of temptation and internal darkness, with neat (albeit stunt) casting.

Abel Ferrara to me is the most interesting and uncompromising American director working in movies today. He has had a career like no other, and one that even his fans would have to admit has been extremely uneven. For every brilliant movie he has made ('Bad Lieutenant', 'King Of New York') he has made some stinkers ('Fear City', 'Dangerous Game'). 'The Blackout' is somewhere between the two, half compelling, half embarrassing failure. Newcomers to Ferrara's work should probably avoid this one until they have sampled a few of his more successful works. One of my big problems with this movie is the casting of Matthew Modine. Modine is a pretty good actor but doesn't have the acting chops (of say, Harvey Keitel or Christopher Walken, previous Ferrara leading men) to really make his role here totally convincing. Modine plays a young Hollywood star who is out of control on booze, sex and drugs ala the real life escapades of Christian Slater or Robert Downey, Jr. A few of his scenes were excellent, but overall I just didn't believe him. The rest of the cast is a little shaky too. Beatrice Dalle ('Betty Blue') and supermodel Claudia Schiffer are both adequate but not that compelling, and Dennis Hopper, who I am a major fan of, just hams it up in what my friends call a "hey, maaaaaaan!" role. It was good to see Steven Bauer ('Scarface') in this movie, an underrated actor who hasn't received the roles he deserves, but then he is only given a few lines, and then he's gone. I'm also really taken by the beautiful Sarah Lassez who starred in Gregg Araki's weird and wonderful 'Nowhere', released the same year as this. I was hoping she became a major star, but sadly it looks like that isn't going to happen. 'The Blackout' is by no means Ferrara's worst movie but it is also far from his best. As uneven as it is fans will get enough out of it to justify watching it, but he can do so much better than this! A very frustrating movie this one.