John Dahl directs Nicolas Cage, Dennis Hopper and Lara Flynn Boyle in this neo noir where a drifter, who is mistaken for a hitman, gets involved in a scheme of embezzlement and murder in a small town.

Super simple, unadulterated neo noir. The mighty JT Walsh is in it doing his usual untrustworthy yet straightforward masculinity shit. Everyone else of note is a David Lynch alumni. Lara Flynn Boyle is way, way too young for her part, not half as interesting as two dozen actress of a similar ilk kicking around at that point. Her name probably helped get it made but imagine Susan Sarandon or Michelle Pfeiffer in the same role. There are some gripping small scale set pieces and the running joke that Cage’s dope can’t get much further than the town limits each time he tries to escape gets better each and every time. Nothing special but exactly what I like. Celluloid + on location shoot = timeless beauty.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Jerichow (2008)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin