The Blackout

1997

Johnny's comments:

I have gone through nearly all of Abel Ferrara's 90s movies since the 90s update started and now it's onto the first movie of his I saw, The Blackout, which I think was the first of his movies that went straight-to-video here. It definitely didn't get a cinema release despite a bit of buzz about it being Claudia Schiffer's first acting role, which is technically true, she did appear in Richie Rich which every ad would scream out every time the movie was on TV. The movie is typical Ferrara fare, lots of manic action focusing around the main character.

This time it's Matthew Modine as an out-of-control actor who after getting off the alcohol and drugs decides to make amends with his former lover Annie (Béatrice Dalle, not someone to fuck around with, haven't you seen Betty Blue...), but it becomes abundantly clear that something bad happened just before he cleaned up his life involving 'Annie' and it's fucking him up all over again.

Mostly fine although there are long stretches of Modine breaking down which seem to go on forever plus it has that stupid ending where he swims out to sea (which does end with full frontal nudity from Sarah Lassez, so it's not all bad). Dennis Hopper is way too well cast as a Ferrara doppelganger as manic as ever talking about the future of video and being a 'video artist', not a director. Ferrara's movies are always an acquired taste and The Blackout is exactly what you'd expect it to be: crazy as fuck, nearly unwatchable but ultimately every one is always worth a look.

Beatrice Dalle film clip (collage below)

Daphne Duplaix and Marcy Lopez film clip (sample below)

Sarah Lassez film clip (sample below)