It had been at least 20 years since I’d last seen Scorcese’s fever dream on film and my take on it has changed substantially, no doubt, in large part to how I have changed.
When I first saw the film, I remember being fascinated by the connections that took the main character Paul Hackett (played beautifully by Griffin Dunne)on his topsy-turvey journey through the hidden layers of lower Manhattan after dark. It seemed to me then—and it still does today—that the string of coincidences and recurring themes that carry him on his meandering path could only be the product of a dreaming mind.
Watching it today, I was struck by the volatility of most of the female characters he meets along the way.
With the exception of Linda Fiorentino’s character, Kiki Bridges--who delivers an equally unsettling performance for its unshakeable coolness—all the women he meets along the way are entirely unpredictable with emotional shifts that could stop a freight train.
Roseanna Arquette, Verna Bloom, Teri Garr and Catherine O’Hara all play women who first appear to be one thing, then shock us with a sudden shift in emotion or attitude. This may say more about Paul Hackett than it does Martin Scorcese but it did strike me in a way it hadn’t 25 years ago. Although some of the male characters also turn on Paul as he gradually drifts from the role of bystander to pariah, the men do so in a far more predictable overtly logical way. But the women—boy, they are some f**ked up chicks!
All the above-mentioned actresses turn in rock solid performances, never once ringing a false note. And Griffin Dunne is absolutely convincing as the poor slob who gets knocked about in Scorcese’s mad landscape for an hour and a half. In fact, I’d venture a guess that because of the film’s unusual visual style and its wild and almost Fellini-esque storyline, when it was originally released in 1985, the quality of the performances may have been largely overlooked.
But it’s to Scorcese’s credit that all the performances are so convincingly naturalistic, given the supremely unnatural situations into which his characters have been dropped. Really glad I took a second look. Why don’t you?