Peter A. Quinn
Posts: 7320
Joined: 11/2/2006
From: Deep, deep, DEEP undercover!
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The art of the "black comedy" is a fine one, and Martin Scorsese's After Hours is a fine one, indeed. It concerns a mild-mannered computer programmer Paul Hackett(Griffin Dunne), a single guy in the big city who seems to live in his structured comfort zone quite happily...until he meets the alluring Marcy(Rosanna Arquette), in a coffee shop in Soho, New York. He agrees to meet her later at her apartment, which is when things get a little strange for Paul. Bad Luck follows him around like an ever-growing shadow as pitfall after pitfall is bestowed upon his unfortunate self. He meets a bizarre cast of characters in his quest to escape from Soho and return to the safety of his own apartment, including Marcy's artistic S&M loving flatmate and her disciplinarian boyfriend, a neurotic, stuck-in-the-60's waitress, a very annoying ice cream vendor, and would-be art-thieves. Shot with an increasing sense of claustophobia by Michael Ballhaus, the film steadily gains a Kafka-esque sense of paranoia, culminating in the neighbourhood's pursuit of Paul for a crime he didn't commit. The script by Joseph Minion(Vampire's Kiss) has a potent tang to it, and you can almost smell New York coming off the screen in nausea-inducing waves. It's a "small" film for Scorsese, but this seems to work in the film's favour in it's many comfort-less scenes. It features a terrific cast of character actors: Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Teri Garr, Catherine O'Hara, Linda Fioentino, Will Patton, and John Heard all stand out. And I guarantee this is the only time you'll see Cheech and Chong being directed by Martin Scorsese. Now, that's bizarre...
< Message edited by Peter A. Quinn -- 18/4/2006 1:13:20 AM >
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This city is afraid of me. I have seen it's true face.
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