Romeo is Bleeding

1993

Johnny's comments:

Romeo Is Bleeding is a very good noir thriller that seems very much forgotten, but I haven't gotten out of my head since I saw it on VHS back in the 90s (I'm not even sure it got a cinema release in Australia, although I would be surprised if it didn't considering some of the stuff I saw in cinemas in the mid to late 90s). Engrossing and absolutely batshit crazy, particularly Lena Olin's femme fatale who has Gary Oldman's corrupt cop by the balls and then some. That scene where she strangles him with her legs while she's driving is insane, and not even an her arm getting amputated stop Lena Olin's character's craziness. From that period where all of Gary Oldman's characters seemed to be drugged up (True Romance, State of Grace and of course Leon) before he went onto being the stock villain in the late 90s. Definitely worth a look.

The critics hated this film, but I agree with Johnny Moronic. I thought it was dynamite.

I agree with the critics who said that there isn't enough action for action fans, and there's not really much of a plot either. And I also agree with Roger Ebert that it is an exercise in overwrought style and overwritten melodrama. But I think that was the point. It's a stylistic parody of the genre, but a very loving parody, kidding only in the sense that we kid the friends we really love. The use of gothic camera angles and deep-focus photography was especially reminiscent of the 1940's noir films. It is, in fact, a nearly perfect 1940's film, except it's about about the 1990's and is in color.

Some of my favorite elements:

Atmosphere. It evokes a special feeling when it photographs abandoned urban areas right in the middle of New York.

Deep focus. There is one scene in which a corrupt cop and a baddie are walking in front of and away from a ferris wheel, where everything stays in focus. There is a another scene in which the cop in the street is going to shoot Lena Olin in a third story window, and the camera shoots up from below his waist toward the window, keeping everything in focus - his face, his arm, the silhouettes on the shade. Marvelous!

Over-the-top characters. There is a great scene where Gary Oldman (the crooked cop) dances with glee on a rooftop, because he's just picked up some info on a protected witness that will net him 65 grand from the mob. We see him as giddy as a schoolboy on the rooftop, with all of New York as his backdrop. And he's actually dancing because he possesses something that will result in the death of many of his fellow officers. Helluva guy! Lena Olin also created a memorable character as the hit woman, Demarkov. That was one tough, evil woman right there. Lena also gets a special nomination from me as one of the five non-native English speakers who could pass for American if you met them at a party and they wanted to fool you. (Rutger Hauer, Paulina Porizkova, Olin, Julie Delpy, Nastassia Kinski). In fact, Lena's American English is so good I'm not sure if it made sense to have her playing a Russian here (she's Swedish).

Judicious use of voice-over. It's one of the few films which has impressed me with a voice-over, by using it sparingly to enhance the mood, which is de rigueur in any homage to 40's noir.

Mood. The final scene, in and around a diner, on a deserted stretch of Arizona Highway, in which Oldman is alone with his memories, is a masterpiece of mood. He imagines his enemy coming through the door. He imagines his long-lost love returning through the door. He doesn't know what's real, and neither do we at first. Then he ends up sitting at the gas pumps. The panorama shows everything covered with sand, no cars in sight, no life in sight, only an endless vista of sand. Just Oldman and his scrapbook, while the saxophone wails. Pretty cool. And the content of the scrapbook surprised me.

Since the film is pure 1940s, including the dialogue, accents, and camera angles, I would have liked it better if it had been shot in black and white, but I liked it just fine as it was. Of course, you must understand that I like this kind of movie. If, on the other hand, you don't like the old-fashioned gangster noir pictures, filled with tough cops, exaggerated New York accents, and vicious baddies ... well, then it really won't be your kind of thing.

Lena Olin film clip (collages below)

Victoria Bastel and Katerina Rae film clip (sample below)