Posts
Responding to the question “Why do you use heroin?,” William S. Burroughs answered, “So I can get up in the morning and shave.” Well, folks, any film that opens with a nod to the “Gentleman Junkie” is – in our estimation – deserving of a measure of respect right off the bat. Fortunately, the material manages to maintain its integrity throughout the rest of the movie, as well.
Read more...
For those of you who may not be familiar with writer Jerry Stahl’s work on such highly praised sci-fi films as Dr. Caligari (1989) and Café Flesh (1982) – neither of which were mentioned in the movie – you are nevertheless (though perhaps not admittedly) almost certain to be aware of his work on the 80s NBC sitcom "Alf." Boy howdy, that was the golden age of television.
Permanent Midnight is the true life story of Mr. Stahl’s writing days for the network, based on his autobiography of the same name. Starring Ben Stiller of Something About Mary fame and Elizabeth Austin Powers Hurley, the film also sports a decent supporting cast including Maria Bello (Payback), Janeane Garofalo, Cheryl Ladd and even Stahl himself. A memorable cameo includes "Newsradio" star Andy Dick.
The tone of the movie, however, is quite a bit different than the previous roles of either Stiller or Hurley. Hurley maintains the chummy sidekick function she held in Austin Powers, but this time with a far less than jovial hubby who cares a great deal more about his habit than her.
Permanent Midnight is the directorial debut of David Veloz. Besides co-writing this script, Veloz made his name by authoring Oliver Stone’s controversial Natural Born Killers – another film about a somewhat less than healthy romance.
The movie has a slick, polished look to it even in the depths of Stahl’s addiction. Perhaps this is a reflection of the Los Angeles drug culture, evidenced in one memorable scene where Stahl shoots up in the morning and then has some nutritious wheat grass juice before venturing outside for a jog.
If the director’s new hand is to be faulted at all, it is primarily in the weak device he used to introduce the story’s main plot. Perhaps, though, this is less the fault of the director than of the original book.
But in any event, meeting a girl in the first 30 seconds of a film and then jumping in a car with her to visit a hotel room where you begin to explain your entire life story in nifty flashbacks has its problems as far as plot structures go. Every 20 minutes or so, the audience is wrenched back to the hotel room where they are treated to seeing the two characters in yet another position in bed, at which point she basically says, “And then what happened?”
The whole frame could easily have been dropped from the picture and the message would have remained: life sucks, you do some drugs to make up for it, land a sweet deal, screw it up due to previously-mentioned drugs and then wind up back where you started.
Aside from this wee flaw, though, the film comes across as well-crafted, with decent acting and some memorable scenes that can be both disturbing as well as comedic. If Jerry Stahl had his 15 minutes and then lost them in a less than pleasant manner, at least he is still able to cash in on the experience a bit, and we can still appreciate what talent he has left in these various incarnations.
