Back To Good (***)
After years of gangsters and goodfellas, Martin
Scorsese returns to the streets of New York and his Taxi Driver’ days
in the paramedic drama Bringing Out the Dead.
And just like Scorsese, the film is also a chance
for Nicholas Cage to put behind some of his poorer acting performance in recent years, and
play a part similar to that of his Oscar winning performance in Leaving Las
Vegas.
Cage plays a paramedic haunted by the ghost of
Rose, a teenager he lost while on the job, and who has not saved anyone’s life for
three months.
Set over three nights, the story traces his
manic-depressive type mood swings and his quest to either get fired or save someone to rid
himself of Rose altogether.
Much like his performance in Vegas,
Cage appears in every scene and has the job of carrying the movie to ensure it works. And
his performance is rather good.
Scorsese gives him plenty of help, vividly setting
the scene of New York’s seedy side from the street, much like he achieved in Taxi
Driver.
His use of speeding up the film and various other
techniques to show Cage’s different moods does not detract from the movie in any way
and only adds to the actor’s performances.
Scorsese even had his actors play a scene
backwards, which he then reversed himself during post-production, to show how Rose’s
death in Cage’s character’s dream.
There are a number of fine supporting performances
throughout the movie.
John Goodman, Ving Rhames and Tom Sizemore are all
good as Cage’s paramedic partners and Patricia Arquette ‘s portrayal of a
recovered drug addict whose father Cage saves from a heart attack adds to both the
development of the movie and Cage’s character.
The use of music is exceptional, particularly
during the three night drives, as Scorsese matches the sounds with the character of
Cage’s partner… soul music during Ving Rhames, rock during Tom Sizemore.
Despite its R rating there is little violence in
the film, with most of the action taking place before the paramedic arrives at the scene.
But like Taxi Driver,
this is a movie which people will either like or hate because of the story content.
The story itself flows well, with plenty of irony
to keep those always searching for a second meaning in a film happy.
But it is a dark story, which despite the ending, viewers won’t
leave the theatre smiling about. It’s intriguing, but probably not a movie you will
want to see again too soon.
- Philip Henderson
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