Romeo Is Bleeding

Big city police officers with basement-filth addictions will identify with much of this masterpiece. I did.

"Jack" has a problem; Money and Sex. When he's not getting enough of one, he seeks way too much of the other. Jack had big dreams. And, he was doing something about those dreams. Everything was going great, until one day...everything started going wrong. You see, there's not much future in playing four sides against the middle. Especially when the four sides include a mobster, an opposing mobster (a female sex-goddess), a beautiful supporting loving wife, and a super-hot luscious girlfriend. Jack is not just bleeding...he's hemorraging!

If you're a police officer, this In-Service Training Film is a requirement! WARNING: HAVE DRINK IN HAND WHEN VIEWING

Like Jack says, "Hell...is when you should have walked away, and didn't". Good Luck!

I happened to stumble on this one night. What a mesmerizing movie! Gary Oldman is terrific as a corrupt Detective. You get the feeling from this guy that he was probably once a young, idealistic, honest cop, who has just been slowly manipulated, and seduced by the seaminess, the money, the sex, the despair.

How this guy could stray from Annabella Sciorra is beyond me, but that's another story.

What you see is this guy's whole life crumble down around him, due to his poor choices, his dishonesty, and his inability to control his cravings. Just about everything that could go wrong does, and his entire life, everything he thought he was working for, virtually blows up in his face.

To finally see, and realize all he's lost is played out very well by Oldman. A very well-done, well-acted film.

Legend says that, after seeing this film, Bon Jovi decided not to allow their ballade "Always" to be included in it, even though it was written for the film. It's their loss.

Romeo is Bleeding is one of those films you either love or hate; it's energetic, unapologetic and raw. Not subtle at all. It goes between a perfect film noir and a parody of the genre. But the best thing about it is the fact it doesn't take itself too seriously.

It is a story of a dirty cop and a mysterious, dangerous woman. Gary Odlman and Lena Olin are perfect in their roles, neatly over the top when situation demands it. They understand what kind of the film they're in, even if we don't get it; but everything fits so well at the end.

No, it is not a serious, nostalgic film noir. Nor is a highly sexualized 90s crime drama along the lines of Basic Instinct. It's both, at the same time, and more. Some of the action - or sex - scenes will make you laugh, and at one point you might think what you're watching is pure trash. But somehow, it's part of the charm. Because even with the simple (and, dare to say, predictable) plot, this film manages to be unique and memorable.

Revisiting Romeo is Bleeding after a number of years, I was struck by what still works, what doesn't, and how wonderful endings allow us to overlook any number of faults that lead up to them.

Gary Oldman is Jack, a corrupt DS well-loved by his men looking to build an ill-gotten nest egg towards early retirement. And on one level it is all going so well, except enough is never enough, and he just can't leave the ladies alone.

Enter Mona (Lena Olin), a femme fatale who manages to inhabit both the femme and the fatale completely. The cop in Jack knows to cuff her, lock her up, and throw away the key, but the Jack in Jack has another agenda.

Romeo is Bleeding is every frame a modern noir thriller, made great by Hilary Henkin's script exhibiting detailed reverence for the genre, and some unparalleled performances by the actors. Oldman is breath-taking, cynical and world-weary delivering his Marlowe-style quips, raw and vulnerable reaching crescendo when he puts a gun barrel in his mouth. It would be too much to ask his co-stars to outshine him, but they certainly keep up. Olin produces a nightmarish laugh at the most inappropriate times, and Juliette Lewis's cocktail waitress (what else?) Sheri's innocence is perfectly ignorant, far too ignorant to survive in this brutal arena. Annabella Sciorra as Natalie completes the trio of Jack's women, his not-so-unaware wife. She is not as cold-hearted towards Jack as Mona, not as infatuated as Sheri, but her flawed love contains a bit of both. She points a gun at him, and we know she knows. Sitting on the porch they have one of those oblique conversations only old married couples know, where every utterance is sub-text, and restraint and feigned ignorance are the name of the game. Jack never quite gets to grips with her, and that is to be his ultimate tragedy.

There are hints of Chandler here (the letter to Jack from The Boys), and Chinatown, too, most noticeably in the bloodied, deformed demeanor of the protagonist in the final third, but Romeo is Bleeding is a stylish noir piece that acknowledges its antecedents without racking up debts.

And then there is the ending, of such heartbreaking, poignant beauty, Oldman and Sciorra pitch-perfect, deftly shot and edited, a wave you ride and crash on shore with. Startling, stunning, and yet how could this tale have ended otherwise? "Sometimes, she stays a little longer. And then she's gone." Not a perfect film, but a perfect ending, and I'll take that every time.

One of my favorite lines from "Romeo Is Bleeding," an overlooked tribute to film noir. Jack Grimaldi(Oldman)is a crooked cop that rats info to the mob about the whereabouts of mob witnesses. He is also a louse of a husband, cheating on his wife(Sciorra)with a waitress (Lewis). Life, in his view, is good, especially when he gets the money from the mob, which he uses "To feed the hole" in his backyard. Then, one day, his life slowly goes on a descent to hell when he is assigned to watch over the deliciously wicked Mona(Lena Olin, who should have gotten an Oscar nod for this performance). Mona makes a proposition to Jack: Help her fake her death and he will be paid VERY well. The problem is that the mob, led by Roy Scheider, wants Jack to wipe her out, or they will wipe him out. What happens to the characters in this film is what makes this a very intense film. The scenes between Olin and Oldman are hot enough to burn a hole in your television screen. This is a must see film that you have to have in your collection.