the informers

this movie had so much potential. i will be disappointed if a director's cut doesn't surface on dvd. or at least, fan edits on bit torrent sites.

this film premiered at sundance and was so poorly received that the filmmakers took it back to the editing room and cut it down an hour.

they might have cut the wrong stuff out.

for starters, brad renfro's story arch could have been cut. his creepy uncle moves back into his house and brings his underage girlfriend winona ryder. a movie about the dysfunctional lives of rich people does not need a 'poor people' story arch.

they also cut some good stuff. apparently mel raido's character was a vampire. as the movie was edited, he is just your average pedophile rock star. boring!

before the cut, the introduction scene was half an hour long. it introduced the selfish gluttonous characters and gave them some personality before a car accident wipes one of them out. the film starts with a great gatsby reference. they could have meditated on the introduction a little more.

there is a brilliant funeral scene. i would watch the movie again just for the funeral scene. it hits on something that is never revisited throughout the rest of the film and i can't decide if that is necessarily a flaw.

the film's best moments are very new wave. sets an unreal dreamy nightmare mood that is as compelling as it is miserable. at its worst, it is not nearly as bad as the best todd solondz film.



this is what happens when hollywood makes art films. the movie doesn't really wrap up at the end. it ends with obvious symbolism. the sun is gone, the party is over and most everybody is too hungover to do anything about it.

the informers is a movie full of inconspicuously good moments that might float by without catching your attention but you'll find yourself thinking about them later.

this is one such scene: kim basinger's character and her ex-husband are in her bedroom, preparing to go out to a party. he says he forgot his syringes at home and asks if she might have one. she does. i wonder, after all the years they've been divorced, she still keeps a syringe around for him? interesting.

gratuitous, grotesque, sensitive, irreverent, reflective.