ROMEO IS BLEEDING is a fascinating and unusual hybrid of highly personalized old fashioned 40s noir and ultra-violent stylized 90s crime drama. It's the kind of movie they never make anymore, with an unappealing protagonist, an entirely corrupt universe where justice and virtue won't triumph and a heartbreaking ending which basically guaranteed it would never be a commercial hit. Obviously some were put off by these things, accounting for the low rating this minor masterpiece sleeper has. Bur that's part of why I love it!
While there is significant "man's man" violence and the obvious titillation from Lena Olin, this movie is at its heart a pure noir cautionary tale carefully structured to get us to the amazingly powerful payoff, which tops all. The writer (Hilary Henkin) is obviously knowledgeable about her 40s and 50s hard boiled repertoire and fills ROMEO with references and touches which students of the genre will enjoy.
But the center of this movie is Gary Oldman. His blisteringly desperate performance as a corrupt cop at the end of the long slide to oblivion defines the movie and is both hypnotic and disturbing. His voiceovers are a worthy throwback to the old Raymond Chandler raps voiced by Bogart or Dick Powell or Robert Montgomery. This isn't a nice or likable character but Oldman is believably relatable as he inexorably tries to "feed the hole" with his greed and inevitably circles the existential drain.
Lena Olin is at her menacing best; this is surely the role which landed her the gig as Sidney's subtly venomous mother in ALIAS, and she takes full advantage of the over-the-top femme fatale characterization with deadly verve. Oldman and Olin share a bizarre chemistry which is fortunate for the script, because Olin's repeated seductions of Oldman (where he basically knows she is luring him to his doom) would never have worked if the actors didn't bring it to life on the screen. There aren't a lot of actresses who can out-menace Gary Oldman but Lena Olin absolutely pulls it off.
ROMEO IS BLEEDING is not perfect. Roy Scheider's mafioso character is strangely caricatured and sticks out in a world otherwise occupied by three dimensional players. Scheider tries hard, too, which is a shame because it's just not there in the role. Lena Olin's brazen escape from police custody defies plausibility in the extreme. Gary Oldman is seemingly not quite properly motivated at all times. Nevertheless, the searing denouement to this movie burns all of these concerns away because it is one of the most unexpectedly poignant and heartrending in the last quarter century of noir. If you have a pulse, you will well up at the end, and probably think about a longing that you left behind at some point in your life against your wishes. 9 / 10
While there is significant "man's man" violence and the obvious titillation from Lena Olin, this movie is at its heart a pure noir cautionary tale carefully structured to get us to the amazingly powerful payoff, which tops all. The writer (Hilary Henkin) is obviously knowledgeable about her 40s and 50s hard boiled repertoire and fills ROMEO with references and touches which students of the genre will enjoy.
But the center of this movie is Gary Oldman. His blisteringly desperate performance as a corrupt cop at the end of the long slide to oblivion defines the movie and is both hypnotic and disturbing. His voiceovers are a worthy throwback to the old Raymond Chandler raps voiced by Bogart or Dick Powell or Robert Montgomery. This isn't a nice or likable character but Oldman is believably relatable as he inexorably tries to "feed the hole" with his greed and inevitably circles the existential drain.
Lena Olin is at her menacing best; this is surely the role which landed her the gig as Sidney's subtly venomous mother in ALIAS, and she takes full advantage of the over-the-top femme fatale characterization with deadly verve. Oldman and Olin share a bizarre chemistry which is fortunate for the script, because Olin's repeated seductions of Oldman (where he basically knows she is luring him to his doom) would never have worked if the actors didn't bring it to life on the screen. There aren't a lot of actresses who can out-menace Gary Oldman but Lena Olin absolutely pulls it off.
ROMEO IS BLEEDING is not perfect. Roy Scheider's mafioso character is strangely caricatured and sticks out in a world otherwise occupied by three dimensional players. Scheider tries hard, too, which is a shame because it's just not there in the role. Lena Olin's brazen escape from police custody defies plausibility in the extreme. Gary Oldman is seemingly not quite properly motivated at all times. Nevertheless, the searing denouement to this movie burns all of these concerns away because it is one of the most unexpectedly poignant and heartrending in the last quarter century of noir. If you have a pulse, you will well up at the end, and probably think about a longing that you left behind at some point in your life against your wishes. 9 / 10