The plot is incredibly simple. Lonely boy meets kooky girl in a cafe in uptown Manhattan and arranges a date at her loft in downtown Soho.
During a hair-raising cab ride to her pad, his money flies out the window leaving him penniless and eventually destitute, and precipitating a horrendous journey into the night. Both fate and coincidence battle against him in his struggle to get back to his appartment in one piece for the morning.
Scarily funny and hilariously terrifying in equal measure, this is by far and away Martin Scorsese's most underrated movie. Made on a shoe-string budget after the undeserved flop of The King of Comedy (which will be reviewed elsewhere on the blog) and whilst he was trying to finance The Last Temptation of Christ (which won't be), After Hours makes you wonder what might have happened if Scorsese hadn't bothered hunting for Oscar glory and stuck to what he knew best on the mean streets of New York.
The film isn't just Scorsese's though. The otherwise forgotten Griffin Dunne gives a career defining performance as Paul Hackett - watch his transformation from lonely Joe Shmoe to set upon Kafkaesque hero to deranged raging bully. Look out for Rosanna Arquette (also currently residing in the "where are they now" draw) and Linda Fiorentino of "The Last Seduction" fame.
After Hours is the definitive late night movie - the sharp editing and camera movements keep this one on edge mirroring the caffeine fueled ride that Dunne's character takes into the dawn.
No comments:
Post a Comment