Directed by:
Martin ScorseseScreenplay:
Paul SchraderCinematography:
Robert RichardsonComposer:
Elmer BernsteinCast:
Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, John Goodman, Ving Rhames, Tom Sizemore, Marc Anthony, Mary Beth Hurt, Cliff Curtis, Nestor Serrano, Aida Turturro, Sonja Sohn (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
Martin Scorsese exhilaratingly adapts Joe Connelly's novel about Frank (Nicolas Cage), a paramedic working among the filth and mental desolation of New York City's Hell's Kitchen in the early 1990s. Lately he has been haunted by the visions of a beautiful 18 year-old girl whom he was unable to resuscitate. Soon after, another image begins to torment him, that of Mary (Patricia Arquette), a recovering drug addict who enters Frank's life when he attempts to save her father. His spiral into even further confusion is paralleled with his three driving partners: Larry (a boisterous John Goodman), whose advice to Frank is not to think about all the death and violence; Marcus (Ving Rhames), a religious fanatic who uses his medical skills as propaganda for the Lord; and Walls (a maniacal Tom Sizemore), a loose cannon who has no sensible grounding whatsoever. In order to escape the madness that is consuming him, Frank asks, unsuccessfully, to be fired. He must ride out the nightmare, trying to redeem the lives of Rose, Mary, and himself in the process. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Videos (1)
Reviews (5)
A film about burnout, survival and dying, and one of the strongest ever. I actually almost died while watching it. An erratic Scorsese, who got a little carried away with the elemental atmosphere of the big city and the psychedelic fast cuts. Some call it an offbeat Scorsese film, some may call it the worst.
()
Yes, as a whole it doesn't work well and it doesn't hold together that well, but Scorsese returned to New York, and that's great. Nicolas Cage shows that a guy under the influence of drugs handles it the best, some scenes are beautifully shot, hallucinations connect with reality so perfectly that you can't tell them apart. You'll feel that it's quite normal for animal torsos to just hang on the street. Excellent performances, especially Tom Sizemore and Ving Rhames got me.
()
With this film, Martin Scorsese entered the territory where Terry Gilliam feels at home - the world in which we find characters deviating from the norm, confronting peculiar personalities, and where a strange atmosphere characterizes the film. Throughout, I had a feeling of craziness, a lingering drug trip, and the impression that one of the sources of inspiration was Timothy Lear's legacy. As much as I like Martin's work, I'm not quite sure about this road movie across the nocturnal streets of New York with a long burnt-out guy whose veins flow with a mixture of alcohol and amphetamines instead of blood. It's too over-stylized, too cool, and has too many elements that would fit into a different genre for me to take the film seriously as a drama. Every time it seems like the story begins to descend beneath the surface of things, another trip comes along. And an entertaining pop culture ride, it fails due to the stereotypes and pervasive depression. Moreover, I am unable to identify with the main character in any way. If he doesn't enjoy his job, why doesn't he simply quit and back out? Overall impression: 45%.
()
Just as Raging Bull probably didn’t fill many with enthusiasm for boxing or The Aviator for flying, Bringing Out the Dead won’t swell the ranks of people interested in medicine. Scorsese shows the saving of lives in all its squalidness. After the aesthetically refined, nearly bloodless Kundun, he probably needed to get his hands a little bit dirty again. Frank doesn’t have much time to think about why he is doing this disgusting and thankless job, but he feels that he can't have a fulfilling life with anything else. Like a shark that can’t stop moving, like an untreated addict who needs a steady supply of adrenaline, he navigates through night-time New York three times, accompanied by three different partners whose behaviour reflects Frank’s confused train of thought (from rapprochement to the desire to kill some patients). Relatively monotonous in his expressions, Cage was the perfect choice for the role, as most of his states, whether excited or totally lethargic, are expressed by other characters, sharp cuts, gliding camera movements and eye-catching lighting (due to overexposed scenes, characters dressed in light-coloured clothing look like ghosts in the dark). If the film is reminiscent of a psychedelic rock music video in places, it is not (for the most part) a matter of the director, editor or cameraman running wild, but rather a way to present to us the protagonist's precipitous perception of what’s going on around him without long bits of soul-searching dialogue. Frank’s returns to his messy apartment are too brief for him to replenish his energy. He’s always on the move. He runs away from the feelings of guilt that took on the form of an eighteen-year-old girl. He runs away from death, whose inevitability he is reminded of on a daily basis, in spite of which he refuses to reconcile himself with it. He tries to find absolution and solace in Mary (the Madonna), to whom he finds his way only after he relieves her father of his earthly suffering and replaces him through his actions. On a more general level, Bringing Out the Dead is a variation of the eternal story of the conflict between false prophets and messengers of the end of the world with a handful of persistent individuals who, even at the cost of their own self-destruction, try to keep the world from becoming unbearable. The intoxicating possibility of being God for a moment is stronger than the awareness of the inevitability of the end and the impossibility of changing the course of things (the recurring situations with Noel or Mr. Oh). Once a saviour, always a saviour. You won’t find a better drug on the streets. Like Frank, we are also overwhelmed by the rapid verbal exchanges, ambiguous images, the roar of the streets and loud music (which completes the acid-trip atmosphere while commenting on what’s happening). Thanks to the constant supply of audio-visual material, our minds are kept busy and the film goes by devilishly fast, leaving us astonished by the strangeness we have just witnessed over the past two hours (did a white horse really appear in that one shot?). Bring Out the Dead offers variations on some situations in Taxi Driver, but it is not merely an addendum to the latter film. The protagonist no longer stands opposite the despised creatures of the night. He has no choice but to live with them. Though he understands that fighting doesn’t make sense, he doesn’t stop trying. Pure Scorsese. 80%
()
(less)
(more)
A hallucinogenic, cynical nail-biter from when Nicolas Cage starred in great films by directors who were able to subdue him, and he was not the idol of supporters of bizarre spectacles. I quite miss that time period. Cage is really perfect here, every look into his exhausted dog eyes is worth it, and Scorsese's direction creates a very special, almost magical atmosphere of night shifts when numb emergency medical technicians drive from case to case, trying (really) not to be crazy, and letting off steam. If the protagonist's ambulance encountered Travis Bickle's cab along the way, I wouldn't be at all astonished, because this film is set in the same universe as Taxi Driver. One unforgettable scene after another, excellent music and the feeling that the whole thing is not a very pleasant dream from which you wake up sweating and have to get used to reality for a while.
()
Gallery (94)
Photo © 1999 Paramount Pictures
![Bringing Out the Dead - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/162/159/162159040_efe5b8.png)
Ads