FFVP - 2005 top ten

TOP TEN - 2005

2005 will be probably be known as the year of the Gay Cowboy with all the critical acclaim “Brokeback Mountain” has received, but as good as it was, as were many others that will be in my Best of the Rest, it was not a movie I felt I wanted to see more than once like the ones here. Some of these films put a curious spin on established genres that I loved while others touched me on a more personal level. “Cinderella Man” tops this list. (The * indicates films I wrote about earlier in 2005.)

1 - CINDERELLA MAN* - I responded to “Cinderella Man” with a wealth of emotions I did not expect. It resurrected long forgotten memories of my grandparents, aunts and uncles talking about the hardships they endured in The Great Depression. The men always talked about boxing. They spoke of Joe Louis and Jack Dempsey. I don’t remember them ever mentioning James Braddock, the man who made the history books when he defeated Max Baer for the Heavyweight Championship of the World on June 13^th in 1935. “Cinderella Man” is his story.

There is not one false note in Russell Crowe’s heartfelt portrait of Jim Braddock - the “Bulldog of Bergen” - a son of New Jersey. Rene Zellweger matches Crowe’s performance every step of the way as Braddock’s wife Mae. At the height of the Great Depression when the absence of simple things like electricity and hot water become life threatening, their unerring sense of family and devotion to each other help keep them together.

Screenwriters Cliff Hollingsworth, Aviva Goldsman, and director Ron Howard trace Braddock’s life from his early days as a bruiser in the ring, the injuries that resulted, the arguments with his wife, the love that sustained them, the promises to his kids, the back breaking work on the Jersey docks that helped him rebuild an injury plagued body, and the lucky break that would put him back in the ring after his peers and the press wrote him off.

The crowd pleasing boxing matches are thrilling, but the most important scene occurs when Braddock hits rock bottom. Everything he feels internally is externalized by Russell Crowe’s body language - the look in his eyes - the inflection of his voice - when he begs for a handout from the boxing promoters who once nurtured his career. A prolonged silence is like a high pitched sound that only the most sensitive men hear. With an acute sense of irony Braddock’s friend and one time manager, Joe Gould (a superb Paul Giamatti) has his own hard luck story to conceal.

When a fighter bails out of a match with a heavyweight contender, Gould makes a successful pitch to the head of the boxing commission to let Braddock take his place. Braddock wins the fight and the hearts of the public. He defies the odds by scoring one upset after another. Columnist Damon Runyon dubs him The Cinderella Man.

The actors who play the reporters, announcers, and pros working the circuit look and sound like the real deal. Craig Bierko plays the fearsome Max Baer to the hilt - loud mouthed, insulting, and overconfident. He towers above everyone around him. Baer can kill a man with one mighty blow to the head - and did. Baer is a Goliath waiting to be slain.

Director Ron Howard put his camera in the ring, up close and nasty. Every punch, jab and body blow had an immediacy that raised my blood pressure. Even with the outcome of the Braddock/Baer match a given, I found myself wanting to jump out of my seat with the cheering crowd at the title fight.

The movie’s postscript reminds the audience that James Braddock was first and foremost a family man who not only honored his profession but also his country. He was a WWII veteran and a role model for all who knew him until his dying day. “Cinderella Man” is entertaining, informative and emotionally uplifting. I couldn’t get enough of it.

2 - KINGDOM OF HEAVEN* - “The Kingdom of Heaven” is a everything you’d expect from Ridley Scott, the man who made “Gladiator.” Set against the backdrop of the 2^nd Crusade, Scott assaults the senses with the sights and sounds of an impoverished Europe, colorful ports of call, storms at sea, the blistering heat of the desert sun, the beauty of the night sky, the clash of steel, the thunder of horses’ hoofs, men crying out in the throes of death and the sighs of lovers. Life in the 12^th Century has never been more vividly portrayed on the big screen.

He and screenwriter William Monahan begin their story in a poverty stricken village in France. Young Balian (Orlando Bloom), a blacksmith by trade, is ready to go to meet his maker for a an act of revenge when Liam Neeson in the guise of Sir Godfrey, recently returned from the Holy Land, alters his destiny. He acknowledges Balian as his bastard son and sole heir to succeed him in all things. Balian earns his knighthood and his father’s blessing at his deathbed. He swears to uphold the chivalric code.

Once in Jerusalem, Balian survives by his wits, relying on his father’s wisdom to win the respect of his subjects. Balian turns enemies into friends much to the ire of the Templar Knights who want nothing more than to annihilate the Muslims co-existing in their midst. They are a threat to the uneasy peace under the reign of the iron fisted leprous King Baldwin. Balian is groomed to become the king’s confidant, but he cannot find it within himself to condone an execution in a power play that would also pave the way for him to claim the executed man’s wife - the King’s sister - as his own. It would violate his moral convictions.

Once the true nature of each key character is defined, the action moves away from the intrigues of the court, into the streets of Jerusalem and beyond the desert Kingdom. The Templars wage war. Balian prepares for the defense of the city, and Saladin marshals his Saracen forces on the frontier moving from one watering hole to the next preparing for the inevitable siege of Jerusalem.

In the space of two hours plus, the naive peasant, Balian of Ibelin, matures into a leader of men through the measured performance of Orlando Bloom. Jeremy Irons is the world weary Tiberius, Balian’s mentor and the Leper King’s right hand man.

Edward Norton gives an Oscar worthy performance for projecting the power of a king with a simple glance and his manner of speaking while hiding the hideous effects of the King’s leprosy behind a decorative mask. Irishman Brendan Gleeson is Reynaud de Chatillon a gleeful warmonger who eggs on the power hungry Guy of Lusignan played by New Zealander Marton Csokas (Celebron in “The Lord of the Rings” films). Sir Guy is Baldwin’s Brother in Law. Sir Guy’s wife and King Baldwin’s sister Sibylla is Eva Green (from Bernardo Betolucci’s “The Dreamers”). Alexander Siddig has a small but pivotal roll as Nasir, a Muslim who plays an integral part in Balian’s survival. Syrian actor Ghassan Massoud strikes a commanding figure as the charismatic Saladin.

“The Kingdom of Heaven” is one of the most exciting films of the year. It’s a grand piece of epic filmmaking that strikes a pitch perfect balance between human drama and bloody spectacle. It’s a ‘must see.’

3 - LAYER CAKE* - “Layer Cake” is an unfortunate title for a gangster movie. The first three things I thought of were, chocolate, birthdays, and weddings.

The title, “Layer Cake,” symbolizes the multi-layered hierarchy of London’s criminal world. The kingpin sits at the top. Those nearest to him run his legitimate businesses. Underlings do all the dirty work. More layers mean more protection for the man at the top. This is explained succinctly by Michael Gambon as a ruthless businessman who crawled his way to the top one layer at a time. The movie’s hero doesn’t seem to have a name but everybody knows who and what he is - a coke dealer, suave and confident. He has two golden rules: make a lot of money, then quit. He is honest to a fault and respected by his peers. He’s a lover, not a fighter. He is also a great front man who is too good at what he does. If he leaves, every body else loses. The crime boss at the top won’t let him quit. His once fatherly advisor is now lord and master. He (Craig) is asked - told - to broker one last deal and to find the missing daughter of a well connected businessman. He is fingered as the contact for a stolen shipment of drugs he knows nothing about. What starts out as two seemingly simple tasks escalates into a drug war between three factions. Caught in a crossfire, he must think and act like a thug and outwit the two top players in a game without rules, and return the stolen goods he never had to a mysterious executioner who will settle for nothing less than a severed head in a box as a sign of good faith.

“Layer Cake” could have easily derailed with all its twists and turns, but first time director Matthew Vaughn (producer of “Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels,” “Snatch”) keeps everything on track from one double cross to the next. The dialogue is crisp, the action fast paced and the characters - unforgettable!

Daniel Craig, plays the coke dealer to perfection as a man who is not as perfect as he thinks he is. He makes mistakes, learns and adapts. He has one flaw - his vanity. After walking in Tom Hanks’ shadows as Paul Newman’s errant son in “Road to Perdition” and playing second fiddle to Gwyneth Paltrow as poetess Sylvia Plath’s husband in the poorly received “Sylvia,” “Layer Cake” is the movie that should have given Craig instant recognition. The movie is already available in the video stores. Anyone who wants to find out why Daniel Craig has been picked to become the next James Bond will find the answer in “Layer Cake.”

P.S. Daniel Craig can also bee seen in “Munich.”

4 - MRS. PALFREY AT THE CLAREMONT - “Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont” is a deceptively simple story about an elderly woman’s isolation from her family and the young man who adds spark to her life when he befriends her.

Joan Plowwright is all self doubt and bewilderment as Mrs. Palfrey when she checks into the Claremont, a run down hotel for retirees. Greeted by an equally elderly bellboy, she surveys the reception area and later her small bleak room with a look of resignation. Mrs. Palfrey invokes the memory of her husband to get her through the first night.

The long term residents keep to themselves in the dining room, each with their own peculiar brand of behavior until Mrs. Palfrey’s arrival. Their eyes brighten at her dignified presence. Each warms to Mrs. Palfrey over time, but the outspoken Mrs. Arbuthnot (Anna Massey) is the first to ingratiate herself to her. Each has a fondness for books. Mrs. Palfrey’s trip to the local library on Mrs. Arbuthnot’s behalf puts her in the path of Ludovic Meyer (Rupert Friend), a busker - street corner musician - by trade, and a writer by desire.

When Mrs. Palfrey falls in front of Ludovic’s basement apartment, his eye level view of her distress sends him to the rescue. He nurses her in his flat. She loves his youthful enthusiasm; he loves her zest for life. They both have an affinity for poetry and the arts. They strike up a friendship that becomes mutually advantageous. Ludovic impersonates the grandson who never comes to visit, and Mrs. Palfrey becomes his literary inspiration

Director Dan Ireland does something unusual in contemporary films. He lets the deepening friendship between Mrs. Palfrey and Ludovic develop at a deliberately slow pace and sustains interest throughout. The empty spaces in her room and the distance between Mrs. Palfrey and the other Hotel guests that accentuated her loneliness diminish as interest in Mrs. Palfrey and her visitor begins to fill their empty lives. Mrs. Palfrey’s emotional life likewise becomes more fulfilling with each new discovery about Ludivic. She becomes a catalyst for an unforgiving mother and romance. Mrs. Palfrey witnesses the sparring in a broken relationship and influences the beginning of a new one by sharing her love for “Brief Encounter” and memories of her husband.

“Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont” treats the subject of aging with a dignity rarely shown on the screen; and to make it the subject of an entire movie is rarer still. Impending death is always in the air while unfeeling family members stay within an unanswered phone call away. Mrs. Palfrey gets a new lease in life through her adopted ‘grandson’ Ludovic Meyer’ interest in her. He is inspired to immortalize her humanity in his first short story. “Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont” is funny, moving, sad and thought provoking.

P.S. Rupert Friend can be seen in “Pride & Prejudice”

5 - MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS - In the mid-thirties, the recently widowed Mrs. Laura Henderson, a woman once content to live abroad and follow in her wealthy husband’s footsteps, becomes bored by the innocuous female banter that went with the London’s society fundraisers and social teas run by her peers. She has a unique sense of self that constantly catches them off guard. Mrs. Henderson is obstinate, opinionated and blunt to a fault. She speaks her mind regardless of the consequences. Mrs. Henderson does not let class or gender get in the way of her adventurous spirit. She canoes and flies airplanes. Mrs. Henderson also has a secret hinted at by her visits to a grave site across the English Channel at a WWI cemetery. The seeds for her seemingly rash behavior are sown for her venture into the world of London night life. On a whim, she buys an abandoned theater in London with the idea of turning it into a Music Hall.

With the help of veteran theater producer Vivian Van Damm, played with haughty glee by Bob Hoskins, Mrs. Henderson’s Windmill Theater becomes one of London’s major attractions. Imitators copy its round-the-clock Revuedeville format and the Windmill’s fortunes falter. Mrs. Henderson and her partner in crime decide to have something the others do not - Nude Girls!

“Mrs. Henderson Presents” follows Mrs. Henderson’s fortunes from her husband’s burial to the London Blitz in WWII when The Windmill Theater shows were a must see for servicemen waiting to be shipped off to war. The history of the theater’s nude revues, influenced by Paris’ Moulin Rouge, are the movie’s calling card but the film is first and foremost a dual character study about two people whose controlling personalities are a source of constant conflict.

Mrs. Henderson is a meddler by nature while Mr. Van Damm is a consummate professional with no patience with meddlers. It’s the perfect set up for the two stars - Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins - to play off each other like a cultural odd couple. The verbal combat between the society matron and the Dutch immigrant she hires provides much of the movie’s humor but their actions are rooted in the annals of London’s theatrical history.

“Mrs. Henderson Presents” is being touted as a comedy. It is funny. It is also being sold as a musical. Their are musical numbers. But “Mrs. Henderson Presents” is so much more. The story chronicles the difficult times that pulled people from different walks of life together with common needs and later a common enemy - the Nazis. Everyone from the show girls to the Lord Chamberlain contribute to a stew of cultural upheaval perpetuated by Mrs. Henderson and Mr. Van Damm. They skirt the issues of censorship by agreeing to have the nude girls appear motionless in visually tasteful thematic tableaus - like living statues. Mrs. Henderson further exerts her influence with the Lord Chamberlain to keep the theater open during the war when others were forced to close. She appealed to his patriotic fervor and common sense. It was a natural bomb shelter because most of the building was underground.

Mrs. Henderson and Mr. Van Damm each held secrets that led to misunderstandings and misguided affection. The war changed all that. Director Stephen Frears captures all the ups and downs of a tumultuous relationship that was held together by mutual respect and a desire to succeed. The first half of “Mrs. Henderson Presents” focuses on the comic antics of Mrs. Henderson and Van Damm’s need to thwart them. When war breaks out the personal lives of the people they touch are given equal dramatic weight. In one pivotal scene Mrs. Henderson’s misguided sense of romanticism has dire consequences for the nude revue’s female star played by an outstanding Kelly Reilly. Will Young is equally wonderful as the lead singer and Tommy Tune-like choreographer.

“Mrs. Henderson Presents” has an indefinable quality that successfully blends the elements of several genres into a cohesive unit. It is part comedy, part musical, part historical drama and wholly entertaining. I loved it!

P.S. Kelly Reilly can be seen in “Pride & Prejudice.

6 - BATMAN BEGINS* - In 1989, Tim Burton jumpstarted a “Batman” franchise that gave birth to three sequels. The first half of that first “Batman” had the inkling of a first class detective thriller. It made tons of greenbacks but I feel Burton dropped the ball once Jack Nicholson was allowed to dominate the screen as The Joker. “Batman Begins” re-imagines the origins of Batman by diving headfirst into the wounded psyche of Bruce Wayne from the time he witnesses the murder of his parents to the cleansing of his demons and his emergence as a crime fighter. Director Christopher Nolan (“Incomnia” & “Memento”) brings a psychological insight to his characters that is light years ahead of its predecessors. This is a Batman for adults. Christian Bale (“American Psycho”) is a Bruce Wayne you haven’t seen before - troubled - brooding - introspective, and - in the beginning - self destructive. He owns the role. Remembrance of Batman(s) past is a fading memory. Except for the garish “Batman Returns,” the other “Batman” movies had the feel of a modern day Grimm Brothers’ fairytale in day-glow colors. The villains in this movie feel more real and therefore more threatening. Liam Neeson plays a mysterious savior - of sorts -who plucks Wayne from an Asian prison and rehabilitates him - sort of. Tom Wilkinson is a top level gangster who rules the city of Gotham like a feudal warlord. Gillian Murphy (“Girl with the Pearl Earring”) is the most villainous of all as a criminal shrink who uses his skills to drive people crazy so he can use them as guinea pigs for something even more devious. “Batman Begins” has a love interest (Katie Holmes), drug dealers, dirty cops, one good cop - an unrecognizable Gary Oldman as Lieut. Gordon (who you know will become the Commissioner Gordon), a secret ninja society, and the unofficial guardian of the philanthropic Wayne legacy - Alfred - played with great aplomb by Michael Caine. Morgan Freeman has the pivotal role of a research engineer who makes all the cool gadgets that help transport Batman through the caverns and crevices of Gotham’s urban landscape. This Batman earns the right to keep its place in the pantheon of Super Heroes.

7 - THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE - Four siblings are shipped off from the London Blitz during WWII to a country manor home where a hidden portal inside a wardrobe opens to a fantastic world called Narnia full of mythological creatures and talking animals whose loyalties are divided between the forces of good and evil.

Lucy (Georgie Henley), the youngest and most impressionable, the first to discover the wintry Narnia, is befriended by Tumnus (a delightful James McAvoy), a faun who is as much in awe her as she of him. He’s heard stories about humans but had never met one. Lucy shares her new world with Edmund (Shandar Keynes) who is closer to her in age. At first disbelieving, the elder siblings, the pragmatic Susan (Anna Popplewell) and cynical Peter (William Moseley), plunge into the new world with wide eyed wonder. Separated from the group, Edmund’s innocence is corrupted by the White Witch (Tilda Swinton) with the promise of fruit tarts, something presumably rare in war torn London where food rationing is a way of life. The tarts are analogous to Judas’ thirty pieces of silver. This is the first hint at the religious underpinning of C.S. Lewis children’s book “The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” The rest comes in the prophesy of a savior - Aslan, the Lion of the title represented by the majestic voice of Liam Neeson - and four humans who will lead an army against the forces of evil and free Narnia from the clutches of the White Witch.

Aslan may be a Christ figure, but director Andrew Adamson and his collaborators don’t rely on any religious messages to carry the movie. They rely on good old fashion story telling. The special effects and sets push the story forward with talking creatures like the domestic beavers who befriend the Devencie children and the ravenous wolves who dog their trail from the Witch’s lifeless kingdom of ice to the thriving plains of Narnia for the final conflict.

The kids hold their own amidst all the technical wizardry that surrounds them. Instead of angels fighting in the heavens, Adamson fills the landscape with every form of creature from the whole of mankind’s imagination. “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” is a cinematic experience that is every bit as good as “The Wizard of Oz” or “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

8 - IN HER SHOES* - The first fifteen minutes of “In Her Shoes” is a laughathon thanks to realistic dialogue, plausible situations, and Cameron Diaz’s uproariously honest portrayal of Maggie Feller, a party animal who can’t hold her liquor, can’t hold a job, and has no desire to hold onto a man. She hops from bed to bed with the frequency of a change of stockings, is an imposition to her self righteous step-mother, and a thorn in her sister Rose’s life. In the parlance of life before women’s lib, she is what was once called - a slut. Ah! But there’s a reason! - that comes to light when she blows an audition for an on-air spot on MTV. Maggie is spunky and gregarious, has an infectious smile and an unerring beauty that is perfectly suited to television. But she can’t read. In one fell swoop, Maggie’s impulsive lifestyle: a way of seeking approval - and her mood swings: her reaction to her poor choices are filtered through this one moment of enlightenment.

Toni Collete’s Rose is the complete antithesis of Maggie. She is a successful lawyer, has a neatly ordered life, and is overweight. Maggie thunders into her life with the force of a gale wind leaving emotional debris - and a messy house - in her path. The sisters love each other. They go out, dress up, talk about the future, memories of their mother and make promises to each other that are destined to be broken. After the glow wears thin, each of the sisters is compelled to make some life altering decisions that will bring the past back to life and reunite them on common ground. But first they must separate, re-examine their lives, find out who they are, why they are so different, and what drives them apart. The answers are in the unopened letters that Maggie discovers in the back of a drawer at her remarried father’s house. They are from the sisters’ maternal grandmother.

Maggie shows up, uninvited but welcome, at her grandmother Ella’s retirement home. For Maggie, it’s a stopping off point, a place to replenish her thoughts, think strategy and maybe steal a few bucks. Ella (Shirley MacLaine) is wise to her but not unsympathetic. She sees a troubled woman with the same irrational impulses that characterized her daughter, the sisters’ mother who died in a car crash under mysterious circumstances. Ella tries to fill in the spaces of Maggie’s life with a brutally honest assessment of her behavior. She offers to help Maggie as long as Rose is included in her plans. Ella brokers a deal that could help her straighten out her life and, hopefully, bring the splintered family back together.

“In Her Shoes” is funny the way people can be funny. A laugh or a smile can come from a simple reaction to a particular situation like Rose’s obsession with shoes or Maggie’s pointed view of her taste. It is heartbreaking in the way a lover’s betrayal, or the callous treatment of an insensitive stepparent can break a heart. “In Her Shoes” is also life affirming in its portrayal of an older generation that knows how to savor life. The retirees’ zest for life, and the interest of a blind English Professor (veteran character actor Norman Lloyd) in Maggie’s welfare gives her life a positive energy that affects everyone around her.

“In Her Shoes” is an emotionally satisfying journey into the hearts and souls of a family torn apart by tragedy, trying to piece together the threads that define the very fiber of their being with its savvy take on the human condition. It is funny, witty, dramatic and totally engrossing from beginning to end.

9 - A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE - “A History of Violence” opens with a brutal detached indiscriminate act of violence by two sadistic killers. The murderous duo breeze into a small town in Middle America looking for kicks and money. The first stop - Tom’s diner - at closing time. Tom tries to smooth things over by offering them all the cash in his register. It doesn’t work. One man shoves a gun in Tom’s face. The other paws his way through the diner. Tom reacts with animal instincts, gets the upper hand, and kills them. Tom’s friends call him a hero. He says he was lucky.

By the time the bad guys invade Tom’s turf, “A History of Violence” has already shown Tom to be a mild mannered model citizen living the American dream. He has a successful business, the respect of his neighbors, a young daughter (Heidi Hayes) and teenage son (Ashton Holmes) who adore him, and a beautiful and amorous wife - Edie (Maria Bello). The one thing he doesn’t want is his face splashed all over the TV and front pages of the newspapers because of his heroism.

Tom’s idyllic life slowly evaporates from the moment Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) enters his diner. He saw Tom on the news. The one eyed, scar faced stranger claims to know him from another time and another place with a different name. He raises questions about Tom’s past. Edie’s trust in Tom begins to erode as a new ‘Tom’ emerges - evasive, guarded, and tense. Whatever Tom was before Edie became part of his life, he is something more now - a family man. Tom tries desperately not to confront Carl in front of his family - to protect them. Evil in any form cannot be appeased. Tom knows this.

Cronenberg explores an undercurrent of violence that can explode at any time, in any place, in any situation. Tom’s son, like his father, tries to avoid conflict with a bully at school until he is forced to act in a situation that parallels Tom’s heroic outburst. The apple, as the adage goes, does not fall far from the tree. Is the propensity for violence in the genes? In Cronenberg’s universe, even an act of love can become an act of aggression. Or an act of aggression can be spurred on by an act of love. Edie thinks she could kill if she had to. Tom doesn’t want her to find out. There are degrees to which each is prepared to go to meet the threat of violence head on. Tom understands this. His first hand knowledge will force him to take a course of action that will annihilate all the vestiges of his old life in the hope of salvaging what is left of his new one. To do this he must confront a family member (William Hurt) whose idea of the good life represents everything Tom came to revile.

Vigo Mortensen is stunning as a paradoxical being who has learned to live with the duality of his nature. He is a good man, capable of committing the most horrendous acts. The only way to understand him, from my point of view, is to think of the war vets who came home, pieced their lives together, raised families, and never talked about their experiences on the front lines. They were survivors. Think of Tom in the same way, and the enigmatic ending - both disturbing and quietly electrifying - may leave you spellbound as it did me.

10 - SIN CITY* - If you had asked me if “Sin City” would be on my Top Ten List when it first hit the screen, I would have scoffed. It is the complete antithesis of “Cinderella Man” and not the kind of movie I would whole-heartedly recommend to everyone because of its nihilism. Yet, it’s hard to believe it was made by Robert Rodriguez, the creator of the “Spy Kids” movies. Still - not so surprising - when you realize he’s also the talent behind “Desperado” and the vampire flick “From Dusk Till Dawn.”

“Sin City,” has a visual style unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The actors appear in a digitally created chiaroscuro landscape, looking as if they jumped out of Frank Miller’s graphic novels, the movie’s source. The hard boiled dialogue and acid laced humor often runs counterpoint to the action. “Sin City” is pure noir - darker than noir. One might even call it noir- fantastique.

“Sin City” has three central characters: Hartigan (Bruce Willis) - the cop with a bad ticker after a child molester (Nick Stahl) who happens to be the son of a prominent politician (Powers Boothe); Marv (Mickey Rourke) - an ugly bruiser out to avenge a hooker (Jaime King) who treated him with tenderness and dignity; and Dwight (Clive Owen) - a onetime news photographer who fell in love with the streets and the resident fringe dwellers who plied their trade there. Secondary characters crisscross from one scene to the next in a non-linear time frame like Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction.”

The most bizarre and squeamishly funny sequence, attributed to Tarantino as a ‘guest’ director, has Dwight conversing with the very dead but loquacious Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro), a vicious sadist. The rest of the excellent cast includes Jessica Alba as the grown up kid Hartigan saved, Brittany Murphy as the object of Jackie Boy’s lust, Rosario Dawson as the gang leader of “Sin City”s hookers, Elijah Wood as a serial killer who tortures and eats his victims, Josh Harnett as a hit man, and Rutger Hauer as a deviant priest.

“Sin City” is not for everyone. The visceral imagery, with its splashes of blood and gore in comic book colors, IS distasteful. But the action IS exciting, the characters ARE compelling, and much of author/screenwriter Frank Miller’s dead pan sense of sick humor IS horrifically funny!

“Sin City” is a one of a kind cinematic experience from one of our most prolific filmmakers that no serious cinephile can ignore.