Leaving Las Vegas | | Cast : | Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue | | Director : | Mike Figgis | | Studio : | Mgm/Ua Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | October 27, 1995 | | DVD Released Date : | September 07, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | June 12, 2005 | | Summary | simply a great film, and who does not like nick cage | Content
 | This movie paints a great potrait of an extreme alcholic. It is the type of movie that you watch and think about the rest of the day. It leaves you shocked and horrified for the character that cage plays. This movie works on so many levels. Its a great drama, and if your alittle twisted like myself you will find cage's character funny as hell at times, with his drunken antics. And needless to say elziableth shue gets topless. For goodness sakes she was in coctails. And now naked, what else could you want. A great movie, the girl from coctails topless, and a insane drunk. It has all the makings of a masterpiece. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 12, 2005 | | Summary | A Dance of Despair in the Night | Content
| Mike Figgis brought this touching ode to the night to the screen, imbuing it with the transient and tragic nature of those seduced and then swallowed up by it. The director of Stormy Monday perfectly captures the sad yet often poetic beauty found in the shared loneliness of the night two souls in despair can find.
On the surface it is a simple story of a man drinking himself to death and a prostitute on the streets of Las Vegas. But it is really a story of love and loss with a foreign film atmosphere and quality, giving it that rare depth where the film becomes more than the sum of its parts.
Nicholas Cage gives a haunting performance as Ben Sanderson, a man who has lost everything and come to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. On his way down he meets a prostitute named Sera and in their spiraling despair they discover love. One of the most poignant moments in the film comes when Cage is on the streets of Las Vegas seeking human contact and can't remember whether he lost everything because of his drinking or started drinking because he lost everything. Cage's performance rings absolutely true and deservedly won him the Oscar. He shows with great tenderness the sad realism of being an alcoholic.
Matching Cage scene for scene is Elizabeth Shue in a brilliantly realized role that should have won an Oscar. As this lonely and isolated working girl begins to care about Ben she discovers she is not dead inside, like some, and can still love. But when Ben finally pushes her away in order to save her, she realizes that if she lets him, she may very well lose this power to love and her connection to being human. Going back, however, may be more than her heart can bare.
Figgis has made a mesmerizing film of almost overwhelming sadness. This is not a `feel good' movie by any stretch of the imagination. There is both truth and poetry here though for those who know this life. Ben and Sera are like two roses; one withering at the onset of its last winter and the other finding an unexpected bud on a long dormant vine.
An incredible sountrack with artist like Michael MacDonald and Sting is used to set the tone for this wonderful but difficult to watch film. Anyone who has ever been devastated by a loss and known a Sera or a Ben, or a combination of both in one, will be moved by this heartbreaking journey into loneliness and despair. Though brilliant, its appeal may be limited and it is easy to understand why some are not as enthusiastic about it.
But for those who have ever seen or experienced a glimmer of this side of life and been shown the comforting tenderness of love on the way down, the final moments of this film will be almost painful to watch and deeply affecting. Figgis has made a masterpiece for all those who have walked away before the night swallowed them up completely and they were lost forever. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 04, 2005 | | Summary | Maybe I Should Stop Breathing! Wooohoooooooo | Content
| Hey....this is not depressing at all.Its just Nicholas cage at his best. How could it be depressing? Hes funny when he's drunk. Yes its dark but isnt that beautiful?
Forget about the ending, the first 30 minutes is brilliant.but without the music, this would be dull to so kudos to Sting |
| Rating | | | Date | May 21, 2005 | | Summary | I'm A Drunk But This Hot Hooker Wants Me!!! (For Free TOO!!) | Content
| This would have to be one of the most overrated and overhyped movies ever produced. It concerns a drunken loser by the name of Ben, played by Nicholas Cage who is set on drinking himself to death in Las Vegas. Instead ofbeing totally absorbed in his quest to find his next drink (just like any normal drunk) he finds time to develop a relationship with Sera, a prostitute. I have read that prostitutes HATE DRUNKS for various reasons which I won't go into in this review but this movie does call for an immense "Suspension Of Disbelief " on the part of the viewer like the scene in which Ben wakes up smiling after a hard night of drinking. Somebody should tell the makers of this turkey of a movie that no drunk ever wakes up smiling (and happy , no less!!!) after a drinking binge.I give this movie 5 stars because I kind of like Elisabeth Shue.What I really want to know is that how come every streetwalker portrayed by Hollywood is always good looking whereas in reality they are all Heroin addicts with Hepatitis B which has eroded any good looks they may once have had? Please advise. My Email address is available for all to see!!! |
| Rating | | | Date | May 18, 2005 | | Summary | Depressing with no point | Content
| This had to be the most depressing movie I ever saw. Yet, at the same time, I did not care about any of the characters (there was no character development) ... there was not much depth to the story line. The characters were flat, boring, dull, and uninteresting; I did not feel for any of them. This was a pointless movie. |
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